Hundreds in Israel mark the 5th birthday of a child held hostage in Gaza

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Hundreds of Israelis sent orange balloons into the air Monday to mark the fifth birthday of one of two children held captive by militants in the Gaza Strip.

Ariel Bibas, along with his 1-year-old brother Kfir, has become a symbol of the struggle to release the hostages. The orange balloons are meant to symbolize Ariel and Kfir’s bright red hair.

During its Oct. 7 attack, Hamas killed 1,200 people and took some 250 people hostage, according to Israeli authorities. Among the 110 still held hostage, the Bibas boys are said to be the only children. Israeli authorities say more than a third of the remaining hostages are no longer alive though Israel does not consider the Bibas boys to be part of that tally.

Ariel Bibas’ relatives said they were stunned to be marking the birthday while Ariel was still in captivity, 304 days after he was kidnapped.

“It’s unbelievable. It’s something we never imagined, that Ariel will turn five as a hostage,” said Tomer Keshet, a cousin of Ariel’s father Yarden.

Ariel, Kfir and parents Shiri and Yarden Bibas were kidnapped from Kibbutz Nir Oz on Oct. 7. Video of the kidnapping, with Shiri seen swaddling her two redheaded boys in a blanket and being whisked away by armed men, ricocheted around the world in the hours after the attack.

In January, family members marked what they dubbed “ the saddest birthday in the world ” as Kfir turned 1 year old. Keshet said he believed there were major differences between how Kfir and Ariel were experiencing their time in captivity.

“The difference between a child and a baby is that a child understands, a child knows that the situation is terrible, a child knows what a birthday is,” he said.

On Monday, hundreds of supporters gathered in Tel Aviv to march with photos of Ariel wearing Batman costumes. He loved all of the superheroes, and Batman especially, said relative Jimmy Miller, who wore a shirt with Batman on it in Ariel’s honor. He showed a picture of a beaming Ariel at his nursery school before his kidnapping, with a photo he drew of the Batman symbol.

“Instead of watching Ariel running in the fields with his Batman cape and celebrating with his friends in the nursery school,” said Miller, “he’s probably in some tunnel from Hamas surrounded by enemies who yell at him if he raises his voice.”

Kfir and Ariel Bibas were among the youngest of about 30 children taken hostage Oct. 7. Under a weeklong temporary cease-fire in November, Hamas released 105 hostages — including foreign nationals, women, children and teens — but Shiri Bibas and her sons were not among them. Yarden Bibas, who was taken captive separately, appears in photos to have been wounded during the abduction.

Since the Hamas attack sparked war, more than 39,000 Palestinians have been killed, according to the Health Ministry in Hamas-ruled Gaza. The vast majority of the population has been displaced multiple times and are facing severe food shortages as well as terrible sanitation conditions.

Since the attack, orange has come to represent the Bibas family across Israel. Hundreds of people wore orange in his honor on Monday, and his grandmother Pnina Bibas spoke about how during Ariel’s captivity, the orange fruits he loved, loquats and kumquats, had started and finished their seasons while he was being held.

“The kumquat tree you love so much has blossomed again, its branches filled with tiny orange fruits,” she said at the birthday event. “The loquat tree near your home has also borne fruit, orange ones, and I can imagine you running to your mum, so proud of what you’ve picked.”

Melanie Lidman, The Associated Press