Ariel, his baby brother Kfir and their mother Shiri (32) were documented last Saturday being taken into captivity. Shiri was captured on that Saturday morning holding her little ginger-haired children in her arms, her face terrified, surrounded by dozens of terrorists. The video and pictures of them went viral. She and the children were abducted by Hamas, but the
faith of the rest of her family remains unclear.
4-year-old Ariel Bibes was kidnapped along with his little brother Kfir, his mother Shiri and her husband Yarden from Nir-Oz on Oct 7th, and became one of the well-known images from the day of the Hamas terrorist attack, in which the mother Shiri is seen holding Ariel and Kfir while she is surrounded by terrorists. Ariel, a beautiful red-haired boy in a way that is hard to miss, was always full of energy and innocence. I chose to illustrate Ariel holding a toy wheelbarrow with a white dove on it - a symbol of peace, hope and goodness, as he walks in a sort of despair and sadness as a sign that Ariel will probably never be the same again as he was before that terrible terrorist attack. The illustration is accompanied by the text: "Ariel will never be the same again", but we all still hope that he will return home with his family and the rest of the kidnapped soon.
Mural by Eli Babajanov
Location Rabenu Khanan'el St 20
Free the kids is a movement to release 38 children currently detained in Gaza, echoing a united call for their immediate return release.