The plight of the Bibas family has come to embody the profound sense of loss and grief still permeating Israel.

Thousands of Israelis lined the streets to mourn the Bibases, who were taken hostage in the Hamas-led attack on Oct. 7, 2023, and had become a symbol of the country’s trauma.

Hamas agreed to release the last hostage bodies included in phase one of the Gaza ceasefire deal, in a breakthrough announced as Israelis mourned a family seen as a symbol of the trauma suffered by Israel in the attack on October 7,