The Israeli military released footage on Monday that it said showed three members of the Argentine-Israeli Bibas family, including the baby Kfir, being moved by Palestinian militants in Gaza shortly after they were kidnapped in southern Israel on October 7 last year.

The security camera footage showed what appeared to be a young woman carrying a child on her shoulder as she was wrapped in a long, light-colored covering in the yard of a building and transferred into a car.

“From this video, we can confirm that they got to Gaza alive and that Hamas is the only responsible party for the safety of mother Shiri and the children Kfir and Ariel,” said Bibas family members to Israel’s Channel 12.

Reuters was not able to independently verify the video’s location and date.

Kfir Bibas’ kidnapping has drawn media attention as the youngest hostage — he was nine months old at the time. His relatives marked his first birthday in January and called for his release in Parque Centenario, Buenos Aires. Hamas claimed in November that Kfir, who was kidnapped along with his four-year-old brother Ariel and his parents, was killed in an Israeli bombing, but Israeli authorities could not confirm his death.

On Monday, the army said the footage was recovered a few days ago and came from the area of Khan Younis in southern Gaza. 

“The footage shows the terrorists wrapping Shiri and her babies in a sheet, trying to hide them,” chief military spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari told a news briefing, adding that the footage came from the day of their abduction.

“From the information available to us, we are concerned for the well-being of Shiri, Ariel and Kfir,” he said, adding that the family was held by a group called the Mujahideen Brigades.

The Bibas family released a statement calling for their immediate release.

Shiri Bibas, her husband Yarden, and the two children were kidnapped from Nir Oz kibbutz near Gaza and are among 134 hostages still being held in the enclave.

More than 100 others, including most of the children abducted on October 7, were released by Hamas during a brief ceasefire in November, but the fate of the Bibas family remains unknown.

The Gaza war began when the Palestinian Islamist militant group Hamas sent fighters into Israel on October 7, killing 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and seizing 253 hostages, according to Israeli tallies. Israel’s assault on Gaza since then has killed more than 29,000 Palestinians, say health authorities in the Hamas-run enclave. 

In January, the International Court of Justice ordered Israel to take action to prevent acts of genocide during the conflict in Gaza, in response to a case presented by South Africa. Israel has denied accusations of genocide. 

—Reuters/Télam