The young friend of the 4-year-old Israeli hostage who was allegedly killed by Hamas while in captivity is struggling to understand his death, his mother has described in heartbreaking detail.
Yoav Avital, 5, had grown up together with Ariel Bibas in the Kibbutz Nir Oz, with the young boy convincing himself that Ariel is still alive even after the 4-year-old’s body was returned to the Jewish state last week, The Times of Israel reports.
Yamit Avital, Yoav’s mother, said her grieving son went from crying about his friend’s death to now believing he merely moved to another apartment and was still living at Nir Oz.
“After it was all over, he looked at me in the dining room and screamed through tears, ‘Ariel isn’t dead! He’s not dead, mom, he’s alive, he’s in his room, and you just don’t know what the room number is!’” the heartbroken mother said.
“I didn’t know what to say,” Yamit added. “I just hugged him and cried.”
Ever since the brutal Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attack, Yamit said her son has been struggling to understand what happened to his friend and why he has yet to see him after more than 16-months.
She recalled the first moment Yoav saw the images of the 251 hostages taken by Hamas, including Ariel, and he at first took that to mean his friend was already dead.
Yoav, my 5-year-old son, saw the photo and said to [my husband], ‘He isn’t my friend anymore. He’s dead,’” Yamit recalled. “And then fell asleep on the couch. He couldn’t contain all the pain, as we all broke down in tears.”
Throughout the different wave of the hostage exchanges during the war, Yoav always asked his parents about Ariel and when he would come home.
The young boy even wrote a letter for his kindergarten teacher to give to Ariel for the start of school. The note included references to their love of Batman and his desire to see his friend escape from Hamas’ clutches.
“I want to draw Batman for you along with all the flying heroes so that you’ll feel like flying over Gaza and fight the bad guys with a bow and arrow,” Yoav wrote with the help of his mother.
“Then you’ll come back to us and be with us in kindergarten. I hope you buy yourself some sweets and a robe. I miss you,” he concluded.
When it came time for Ariel’s body to be released along with his 4-month-old brother, Kfir, and their mother Shiri Bibas, Yoav kept trying to convince his parents that Ariel was still alive, either awake in his coffin or flying in space.
Yoav also tried convincing his parents that Israeli scientists would be able to “invent a special potion with ingredients that will bring Ariel and Kfir back to life.”
Yamit added that her son wanted to see his friend one last time, with Ariel and his family scheduled to have a closed funeral on Wednesday.
“With eyes full of tears, all I could do was tell him that he would be able to meet him again in his dreams and hug him tightly there, play superheroes with him, be wild together in the pool, explore insects and plants and tell him how you are and hear how he is,” she said.
