SMILE OF AN INNOCENT 'LOST' IN A WAR WITH NO END

GAZA'S youngest hostage, 10-month-old Kfir Bibas, has been cruelly declared dead by Hamas.

- Mark Reynolds

His brother and mum also perished in the same Israeli air strike, the terrorists claimed.

Hamas alleged the Bibas family, including four-year-old Ariel and the boys' mum Shiri SilbermanBibas, 30, died before a six-day ceasefire due to end last night.

The family were kidnapped from their kibbutz home during the invasion of southern Israel on October 7, which triggered the raging conflict.

The fate of the children's father Yarden, 34, remained unknown last night Kfir's plight was widely publicised after Israel claimed the infant had been handed on to another terror group in southern Gaza the next target in its antiHamas war.

Just before more women and child hostages were freed yesterday, Hamas said the three family members were killed in an earlier attack by Israeli forces.

If that proves true, the deaths are likely to pile further pressure on Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu.

There was wide suspicion at the claim by the Al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas' armed wing, as the strike's location and date were not given.

Screaming

The Israel Defence Forces said it was urgently investigating.

Its spokesman branded Hamas "cruel and inhuman', saying Israeli authorities had spoken to the wider Bibas family about the claims, which were complicating last-minute talks to extend the truce.

The plight of Kfir and his family became all the more poignant after footage emerged of gunmen dragging Shiri and the red-headed boys from their home in Nir Oz to a car.

Neighbours were heard screaming: "She has a baby!"

Despite hopes they would be swapped by Hamas for the prisoners freed by Israel there has been no contact from the family, while other young Israeli hostages and their mothers were returned home.