As the war between Israel and Hamas continues to escalate, the families of those captured by Hamas over three months ago have not yet given up hope of being reunited with their relatives.
Kfir Bivas, the youngest hostage taken from Israel by the terrorist group, has just celebrated his first birthday in captivity. His great-uncle told Fox News Thursday that he remains positive that he can return home safely.
“We believe they are alive. We hope and pray in our hearts that they are alive,” Mauricio Schneider told America's Newsroom. “We don't know anything. So we haven't really given up. We just hope they're alive and we want them back… We're going to pray until our last day. … We can get them somehow.”
Israel's Kibbutz Beeri confirms death of two hostages seen in Hamas terrorist group video
Hamas took Bivas' parents and four-year-old brother after the terrorist group's brutal massacre in the Israeli border town on October 7.
Since the family was taken, Israeli authorities have not been able to confirm that they are still alive in Gaza. Although Hamas claims all members of Kfir's family have died except for her father, Yarden, relatives of the Vivas family remain hopeful.
“The problem here is that we are dealing with Hamas. Hamas is not a country. They are a terrorist organization,” Schneider said. “And how do you deal with them?”
“They are evil… They don't want to talk to anyone,” he continued.
Despite the dire wait for further information, relatives gathered to celebrate Kfir's first birthday on January 18th.
Ginger balloons representing Kfir's bright hair and a teddy bear-themed birthday cake with his photo on it were left at the now abandoned Nir Oz kindergarten.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
“A one-year-old is celebrating his first birthday underground. Maybe on the ground,” Schneider said. “Celebrating a child's first birthday is one of the happiest days for humans and parents.”
Hamas is believed to still be holding 130 of the original 240 hostages, including six Americans. Their status remains unclear.
“I had a hard time falling asleep, I guess you could say that,” Schneider said. “Because when I fell asleep, the first thing I did was close my eyes and see a video of two red-haired babies. That was the first video I saw… so it was ingrained in my brain. I couldn’t close my eyes because of the images.”
“So I wanted to go to sleep. When I fell asleep, it was fine, but when I woke up, that's when the nightmares started,” he continued.
Additional ceremonies were planned for Thursday, when supporters and families of hostages gathered in Tel Aviv's Hostage Square, the Times of Israel reported. A poster for the ceremony reads, “The saddest birthday in the world.”
Fox News' Jamie Joseph and Ashlyn Messier contributed to this report.
