STAMFORD, Conn. (AP) — Former Vice President Al Gore and other politician dignitaries remembered the late Joe Lieberman Friday as a “mensch” who both bridged partisan political divides and wasn't afraid to go against mainstream political currents, during a packed funeral service for the four-term U.S. senator.
Noting there is no English equivalent for the Yiddish term, Gore — who ran for president on a Democratic ticket with Lieberman in the disputed 2000 election — told mourners at a synagogue in Stamford, Connecticut, that they could find its meaning just by looking at his former running mate, who passed away this week at 82.
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FILE - Democratic presidential candidate Vice President Al Gore, left, and his running mate, vice presidential candidate Sen. Joe Lieberman, of Connecticut, wave to supporters at a campaign rally in Jackson, Tenn., Oct. 25, 2000. A funeral for Lieberman will be held Friday, March 29, 2024, in his hometown of Stamford, Conn. Lieberman died in New York City on Wednesday, March 27, at age 82. (AP Photo/Stephan Savoia, File)
FILE - Former Sen. Joe Lieberman of Conn., right, speaks with a reporter at the Capitol in Washington, June 22, 2021. A funeral for Lieberman will be held Friday, March 29, 2024, in his hometown of Stamford, Conn. Lieberman died in New York City on Wednesday, March 27, at age 82. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)
Former Vice President Al Gore speaks at the funeral for former Sen. Joe Lieberman in Stamford, Conn., Friday, March. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Bryan Woolston)
Former Vice President Al Gore speaks at the funeral for former Sen. Joe Lieberman in Stamford, Conn., Friday, March. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Bryan Woolston)
The casket of former Sen. Joe Lieberman in the sanctuary of Congregation Agudath Sholom, during his funeral in Stamford, Conn., Friday, March. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Bryan Woolston)
Senator Chris Murphy, D-CT, speaks at the funeral for former Senator Joe Lieberman in Stamford, Conn., Friday, March. 29, 2024. (AP Photo / Bryan Woolston)
Former Senator Chris Dodd speaks at the funeral for former Senator Joe Lieberman in Stamford, Conn., Friday, March. 29, 2024. (AP Photo / Bryan Woolston)
Current and former elected officials including Senators Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy, Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro, and Senator Susan Collins listen to reflections during the funeral for former Senator Joe Lieberman in Stamford, Conn., Friday, March. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Bryan Woolston)
Hadassah Lieberman, wife of former Senator Joe Lieberman, and their daughter Hani Lowenstein, arrive for his funeral in Stamford, Conn., Friday, March. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Bryan Woolston)
Former Vice President Al Gore offers his condolences to the Lieberman family during the funeral for former Sen. Joe Lieberman in Stamford, Conn., Friday, March. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Bryan Woolston)
Former Vice President Al Gore offers his condolences to Hadassah Lieberman during the funeral for her husband, former Sen. Joe Lieberman in Stamford, Conn., Friday, March. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Bryan Woolston)
The casket of former Senator Joe Lieberman is shown in the sanctuary of Congregation Agudath Sholom, before his funeral in Stamford, Conn., Friday, March. 29, 2024. (AP Photo / Bryan Woolston)
FILE - Democratic presidential candidate Vice President Al Gore, left, and his running mate, vice presidential candidate Sen. Joe Lieberman, of Connecticut, wave to supporters at a campaign rally in Jackson, Tenn., Oct. 25, 2000. A funeral for Lieberman will be held Friday, March 29, 2024, in his hometown of Stamford, Conn. Lieberman died in New York City on Wednesday, March 27, at age 82. (AP Photo/Stephan Savoia, File)
FILE - Former Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman waves to members of the media as he leaves the West Wing of the White House in Washington, May 17, 2017. A funeral for Lieberman will be held Friday, March 29, 2024, in his hometown of Stamford, Conn. Lieberman died in New York City on Wednesday, March 27, at age 82. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais, File)
FILE - Former Sen. Joe Lieberman of Conn., right, speaks with a reporter at the Capitol in Washington, June 22, 2021. A funeral for Lieberman will be held Friday, March 29, 2024, in his hometown of Stamford, Conn. Lieberman died in New York City on Wednesday, March 27, at age 82. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)
“Those who seek its definition will not find it in dictionaries so much as they find it in the way Joe Lieberman lived his life: friendship over anger, reconciliation as a form of grace," Gore said. "We can learn from Joe Lieberman’s life some critical lessons about how we might heal the rancor in our nation today.”
Top Connecticut Democrats, including Sens. Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy and Gov. Ned Lamont — Lieberman’s one-time rival for the Senate seat — shared similar sentiments.
Lamont said his acquaintance with Lieberman started on “an inauspicious note” when they ran against each other in 2006. After Lamont defeated the incumbent Lieberman in the Democratic primary for his Senate seat, Lieberman ran as an independent and defeated Lamont.
Lamont said Lieberman loved Frank Sinatra songs, especially “My Way.” “He did it his way,” Lamont said. “He never quite fit in that Republican or Democratic box. I think maybe in an odd way I helped liberate him because when he beat me — he beat me pretty good, by the way — he won as an independent.”
Lamont said Lieberman “was always a calming presence” and a "bridge over troubled waters as you see the partisan sniping from both directions.”
Blumenthal recalled Lieberman’s “tremendous accomplishments,” including helping to form the Department of Homeland Security and championing civil rights, voting rights, women’s reproductive freedom and LGBTQ rights. “But the greatest accomplishment of his life was his marriage to Hadassah and their children and grandchildren,” Blumenthal said.
Services were held at Congregation Agudath Sholom in Stamford. For Lieberman, a self-described observant Jew who followed the rules of the Jewish Sabbath from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday, the congregation played a key role early on in his life.
He once recalled how the congregation's former synagogue building was “a place that gave me the first sense of religion; a very special uplift," according to a posting on the congregation's website.
“I feel very lucky — my adherence to the Jewish tradition is really an asset," he said. "Religious Catholics and Protestants find a bond of common value with my beliefs and stand. It is this that makes me so proud of being an American.”
Lieberman's youngest daughter, Hana Lowenstein, who moved to Israel in 2018 with her family, said tearfully that she had prayed, “Please God, give my father many more years. Let him see all of my kids’ bar mitzvahs, their weddings, his great-grandchildren.” But she said God “had other plans.”
Lowenstein said that observing the Jewish Sabbath was “very dear” to her father and he would walk 5 miles (8 kilometers) in order to abide by the Sabbath prohibition on riding in a motor vehicle. “You were literally someone who was sanctifying God’s name by everything you did,” she said.
Matthew Lieberman, the former senator’s son from his first marriage, said Lieberman “was a blessing for all of us” but “a solid slice of people” nevertheless developed a hate for him.
Despite that animosity, Matthew Lieberman said his father encouraged others to not let those disagreements devolve into hatred. “We’re not the Hatfields and McCoys here," Matthew Lieberman said. "We’re Americans, we’re fellow citizens in the greatest country in the history of the world. We’re all humans and we’re all we’ve got.”
Lieberman, a former state Senate leader and attorney general, was long known for his pragmatic, independent streak. After losing the chance to serve as vice president with the Democrat Gore, he came close to becoming Republican John McCain's running mate in 2008. However, conservatives balked at the idea of tapping Lieberman, who was known for supporting gay rights, civil rights, abortion rights and environmental causes while taking a hawkish stand on military and national security matters.
President Joe Biden on Thursday called Lieberman a friend, someone who was “principled, steadfast and unafraid to stand up for what he thought was right."
“Joe believed in a shared purpose of serving something bigger than ourselves," Biden, who served 20 years in the Senate with Lieberman, said in his statement. “He lived the values of his faith as he worked to repair the wounds of the world.”
Lieberman came tantalizingly close to winning the vice presidency in the contentious 2000 presidential contest that was decided by a 537-vote margin victory for George W. Bush over Gore in Florida after a drawn-out recount, legal challenges and a Supreme Court decision. He was the first Jewish candidate on a major party’s presidential ticket.
Over the last decade, Lieberman helped lead No Labels, a centrist third-party movement that has said it will offer as-yet-unnamed candidates for president and vice president this year. Some groups aligned with Democrats oppose the effort, fearing it will help presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump win the White House.
Lieberman and his wife, Hadassah, have four children.
This story has been corrected to show that Lieberman was Al Gore's running mate in 2000, not 1980.
Former Vice President Al Gore speaks at the funeral for former Sen. Joe Lieberman in Stamford, Conn., Friday, March. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Bryan Woolston)
Former Vice President Al Gore speaks at the funeral for former Sen. Joe Lieberman in Stamford, Conn., Friday, March. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Bryan Woolston)
The casket of former Sen. Joe Lieberman in the sanctuary of Congregation Agudath Sholom, during his funeral in Stamford, Conn., Friday, March. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Bryan Woolston)
Senator Chris Murphy, D-CT, speaks at the funeral for former Senator Joe Lieberman in Stamford, Conn., Friday, March. 29, 2024. (AP Photo / Bryan Woolston)
Former Senator Chris Dodd speaks at the funeral for former Senator Joe Lieberman in Stamford, Conn., Friday, March. 29, 2024. (AP Photo / Bryan Woolston)
Current and former elected officials including Senators Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy, Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro, and Senator Susan Collins listen to reflections during the funeral for former Senator Joe Lieberman in Stamford, Conn., Friday, March. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Bryan Woolston)
Hadassah Lieberman, wife of former Senator Joe Lieberman, and their daughter Hani Lowenstein, arrive for his funeral in Stamford, Conn., Friday, March. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Bryan Woolston)
Former Vice President Al Gore offers his condolences to the Lieberman family during the funeral for former Sen. Joe Lieberman in Stamford, Conn., Friday, March. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Bryan Woolston)
Former Vice President Al Gore offers his condolences to Hadassah Lieberman during the funeral for her husband, former Sen. Joe Lieberman in Stamford, Conn., Friday, March. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Bryan Woolston)
The casket of former Senator Joe Lieberman is shown in the sanctuary of Congregation Agudath Sholom, before his funeral in Stamford, Conn., Friday, March. 29, 2024. (AP Photo / Bryan Woolston)
FILE - Democratic presidential candidate Vice President Al Gore, left, and his running mate, vice presidential candidate Sen. Joe Lieberman, of Connecticut, wave to supporters at a campaign rally in Jackson, Tenn., Oct. 25, 2000. A funeral for Lieberman will be held Friday, March 29, 2024, in his hometown of Stamford, Conn. Lieberman died in New York City on Wednesday, March 27, at age 82. (AP Photo/Stephan Savoia, File)
FILE - Former Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman waves to members of the media as he leaves the West Wing of the White House in Washington, May 17, 2017. A funeral for Lieberman will be held Friday, March 29, 2024, in his hometown of Stamford, Conn. Lieberman died in New York City on Wednesday, March 27, at age 82. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais, File)
FILE - Former Sen. Joe Lieberman of Conn., right, speaks with a reporter at the Capitol in Washington, June 22, 2021. A funeral for Lieberman will be held Friday, March 29, 2024, in his hometown of Stamford, Conn. Lieberman died in New York City on Wednesday, March 27, at age 82. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Holding flags, orange balloons and signs saying “forgive us,” tens of thousands of Israelis lined highways as the bodies of a mother and her two young sons, killed in captivity in the Gaza Strip, were taken for burial on Wednesday.
The plight of the Bibas family has come to embody the profound sense of loss and grief still permeating Israel after the militant Hamas group's Oct. 7, 2023 attack that triggered the war.
Footage of a terrified Shiri Bibas clutching her two sons — 9-month-old Kfir and 4-year-old Ariel — as they were taken to Gaza by militants is seared into the country's collective memory.
Israel says forensic evidence shows the boys were killed by their captors in November 2023, while Hamas says the family was killed along with their guards in an Israeli airstrike.
Their bodies were handed over earlier this month as part of a ceasefire deal that paused the Israel-Hamas war. Israelis endured another moment of agony when testing showed that one of the bodies returned by Hamas was identified as someone else. Shiri's body was returned the following night and positively identified.
Yarden Bibas was abducted separately and released alive in a different handover last month. His wife and their two children will be buried in a private ceremony near Kibbutz Nir Oz near Gaza, where they were living when they were abducted. The three will be buried next to Shiri’s parents, who were also killed in the attack.
People lined up on the side of the roads as far as the eye could see, sobbing and embracing each other as the casket made their way along the 100-kilometer (60 miles) route from central Israel to the cemetery.
Hundreds of motorcycles, each with an Israeli flag and orange ribbons, rode solemnly behind the convoy. In the city of Tel Aviv, thousands gathered to watch a broadcast of the eulogies, many dressed in orange.
Kfir was the youngest of about 30 children taken hostage. The infant, with red hair and a toothless smile, quickly became well-known across Israel. His ordeal was raised by Israeli leaders on podiums around the world.
The extended Bibas family has been active at protests, branding the color orange as the symbol of their fight for the “ginger babies.” They marked Kfir Bibas’ first birthday with a release of orange balloons and lobbied world leaders for support.
Family photos aired on TV and posted on social media created a national bond with the two boys and made them familiar faces.
Israelis learned of Ariel Bibas’ love for Batman. Photos from a happier time showed the entire family dressed up as the character.
On Wednesday, many people dressed up in Batman costumes and saluted as the caskets passed.
Yarden Bibas eulogized his family.
“Do you remember our last conversation together? In the safe room, I asked if we should fight or surrender. You said fight, so I fought,” he sad, speaking directly to his wife. “Shiri, I’m sorry I couldn’t protect you all. If only I had known what would happen, I wouldn’t have fought.”
Then he spoke of his elder son, Ariel: “I hope you know I thought about you every day, every minute.”
“I’m sure you’re making all the angels laugh with your silly jokes and impressions," he added, envisioning the boy in paradise. "I hope there are plenty of butterflies for you to watch, just like you did during our picnics.”
He also addressed his youngest son. “Kfir, I’m sorry I didn’t protect you better,” he said. “I miss nibbling on you and hearing your laughter.”
Dana Silberman Sitton, Shiri's sister, said she had tried to prepare herself for over a year to bury her sister alongside their parents, but the moment was still overwhelming.
She begged people to remember Shiri full of light and laughter — not just the photo of her terror-stricken face as she was being kidnapped.
She also asked forgiveness on behalf of Israel’s government and military because it had taken so long to bring them home.
Yarden's sister, Ofri Bibas Levy, one of the most active voices in the fight to bring the hostages home, said “our disaster as a nation and as a family should not have happened, and must never happen again.”
“Forgiveness means accepting responsibility," she said. "There is no meaning to forgiveness before the failures are investigated, and all officials take responsibility.”
During the release of the bodies in Gaza last week, Hamas militants displayed coffins on a stage labeled with Shiri’s name and those of her two boys as upbeat music blared. Behind them hung a panel where their pictures hovered beneath a cartoon of a vampiric-looking Netanyahu.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the delayed release of Shiri’s remains a “cruel and malicious violation” of the ceasefire agreement.
Some 1,200 people in Israel were killed in the Oct. 7 attack that triggered the war in Gaza and 251 were taken hostage. More than 48,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not differentiate between combatants and civilians.
Follow AP’s war coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war
Freed Israeli hostage Omer Wenkert, gestures from a van as he arrives at Beilinson hospital in Petah Tikva, Israel, after he was released from Hamas captivity in the Gaza Strip, Saturday, Feb. 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
An Israeli soldier kisses the hand of an ultra-Orthodox Jewish man while they are waiting on the side of a road where the funeral convoy carrying the coffins of slain hostages Shiri Bibas and her two children, Ariel and Kfir, will pass by near Kibbutz Nir Oz, Israel, Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2025. The mother and her two children were abducted by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023, and their remains were returned from Gaza to Israel last week as part of a ceasefire agreement with Hamas. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)
People watch a live broadcast from the funeral of slain hostages Shiri Bibas and her two children, Ariel and Kfir, at a plaza known as the Hostages Square in Tel Aviv, Israel, Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2025. The mother and her two children were abducted by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023, and their remains were returned from Gaza to Israel last week as part of a ceasefire agreement with Hamas. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
Mourners attend the funeral procession of slain hostages Shiri Bibas and her two children, Ariel and Kfir, in Rishon Lezion, Israel, Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2025. The mother and her two children were abducted by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023, and their remains were returned from Gaza to Israel last week as part of a ceasefire agreement with Hamas. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
Mourners attend the funeral procession of slain hostages Shiri Bibas and her two children, Ariel and Kfir, in Rishon Lezion, Israel, Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2025. The mother and her two children were abducted by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023, and their remains were returned from Gaza to Israel last week as part of a ceasefire agreement with Hamas. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
Mourners attend the funeral procession of slain hostages Shiri Bibas and her two children, Ariel and Kfir, in Rishon Lezion, Israel, Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2025. The mother and her two children were abducted by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023, and their remains were returned from Gaza to Israel last week as part of a ceasefire agreement with Hamas. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
Mourners attend the funeral procession of slain hostages Shiri Bibas and her two children, Ariel and Kfir, in Rishon Lezion, Israel, Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2025. The mother and her two children were abducted by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023, and their remains were returned from Gaza to Israel last week as part of a ceasefire agreement with Hamas. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
People watch a live broadcast from the funeral of slain hostages Shiri Bibas and her two children, Ariel and Kfir, at a plaza known as the Hostages Square in Tel Aviv, Israel, Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2025. The mother and her two children were abducted by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023, and their remains were returned from Gaza to Israel last week as part of a ceasefire agreement with Hamas. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
Mourners react as the convoy carrying the coffins of slain hostages Shiri Bibas and her two children, Ariel and Kfir, passes by during their funeral procession in Rishon Lezion, Israel, Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2025. The mother and her two children were abducted by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023, and their remains were returned from Gaza to Israel last week as part of a ceasefire agreement with Hamas. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
People watch a live broadcast from the funeral of slain hostages Shiri Bibas and her two children, Ariel and Kfir, at a plaza known as the Hostages Square in Tel Aviv, Israel, Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2025. The mother and her two children were abducted by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023, and their remains were returned from Gaza to Israel last week as part of a ceasefire agreement with Hamas. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
Israeli soldiers salute as the convoy carrying the coffins of slain hostages Shiri Bibas and her two children, Ariel and Kfir, pass by near Kibbutz Nir Oz, southern Israel, Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2025. The mother and her two children were abducted by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023, and their remains were returned from Gaza to Israel last week as part of a ceasefire agreement with Hamas. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)
Relatives of Bibas family show their appreciation to the crowd on the side of the road leading to the funeral of slain hostages Shiri Bibas and her two children, Ariel and Kfir, near Kibbutz Nir Oz, southern Israel, Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2025. The mother and her two children were abducted by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023, and their remains were returned from Gaza to Israel last week as part of a ceasefire agreement with Hamas. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)
People watch a live broadcast from the funeral of slain hostages Shiri Bibas and her two children, Ariel and Kfir, at a plaza known as the Hostages Square in Tel Aviv, Israel, Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2025. The mother and her two children were abducted by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023, and their remains were returned from Gaza to Israel last week as part of a ceasefire agreement with Hamas. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
Israelis are waiting on the side of a road where the funeral convoy carrying the coffins of slain hostages Shiri Bibas and her two children, Ariel and Kfir, will pass by near Kibbutz Nir Oz, Israel, Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2025. The mother and her two children were abducted by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023, and their remains were returned from Gaza to Israel last week as part of a ceasefire agreement with Hamas. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)
Israelis are waiting on the side of a road where the funeral convoy carrying the coffins of slain hostages Shiri Bibas and her two children, Ariel and Kfir, will pass by near Kibbutz Nir Oz, Israel, Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2025. The mother and her two children were abducted by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023, and their remains were returned from Gaza to Israel last week as part of a ceasefire agreement with Hamas. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)
Mourners react as the convoy carrying the coffins of slain hostages Shiri Bibas and her two children, Ariel and Kfir, passes by during their funeral procession in Rishon Lezion, Israel, Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2025. The mother and her two children were abducted by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023, and their remains were returned from Gaza to Israel last week as part of a ceasefire agreement with Hamas. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
Israelis waiting on the side of a road where the funeral convoy carrying the coffins of slain hostages Shiri Bibas and her two children, Ariel and Kfir, will pass by near Kibbutz Nir Oz, Israel, Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2025. The mother and her two children were abducted by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023, and their remains were returned from Gaza to Israel last week as part of a ceasefire agreement with Hamas. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)
Israelis gather on the side of a road where the funeral convoy carrying the coffins of slain hostages Shiri Bibas and her two children, Ariel and Kfir, will pass by near Kibbutz Yad Mordechai, Israel, Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2025. The mother and her two children were abducted by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023, and their remains were returned from Gaza to Israel last week as part of a ceasefire agreement with Hamas. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo)
Mourners gather around the convoy carrying the coffins of slain hostages Shiri Bibas and her two children, Ariel and Kfir, during their funeral procession in Rishon Lezion, Israel, Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2025. The mother and her two children were abducted by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023, and their remains were returned from Gaza to Israel last week as part of a ceasefire agreement with Hamas. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
Mourners gather around the convoy carrying the coffins of slain hostages Shiri Bibas and her two children, Ariel and Kfir, during their funeral procession in Rishon Lezion, Israel, Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2025. The mother and her two children were abducted by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023, and their remains were returned from Gaza to Israel last week as part of a ceasefire agreement with Hamas. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
Mourners react as the convoy carrying the coffins of slain hostages Shiri Bibas and her two children, Ariel and Kfir, passes by during their funeral procession in Rishon Lezion, Israel, Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2025. The mother and her two children were abducted by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023, and their remains were returned from Gaza to Israel last week as part of a ceasefire agreement with Hamas. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
Mourners react as the convoy carrying the coffins of slain hostages Shiri Bibas and her two children, Ariel and Kfir, passes by during their funeral procession in Rishon Lezion, Israel, Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2025. The mother and her two children were abducted by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023, and their remains were returned from Gaza to Israel last week as part of a ceasefire agreement with Hamas. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
Mourners gather around the car carrying the coffins of slain hostages Shiri Bibas and her two children, Ariel and Kfir, during their funeral procession in Rishon Lezion, Israel, Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2025. The mother and her two children were abducted by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023, and their remains were returned from Gaza to Israel last week as part of a ceasefire agreement with Hamas. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)