Released From Hamas Captivity, a Hostage Finds His Family Gone

New York Times

03-03-2025

Hollow-eyed and emaciated after nearly 500 days in captivity in Gaza, Eli Sharabi stood on a podium flanked by masked Hamas gunmen, unaware of what most Israelis already knew.
During the Hamas-led assault on Oct. 7, 2023, a dozen gunmen had burst into Mr. Sharabi's house in the border community of Kibbutz Be'eri, where he had been hiding in a safe room with his wife and two teenage daughters. Hoping to save them, he said he gave himself up without a fight and was taken to Gaza.
After emerging from Hamas's tunnels last month, he would soon learn that his wife, Lianne, 48, and his daughters — Noiya, 16, and Yahel, 13 — had been shot and killed in the family home that day, along with the family's dog, Mocha.
One of his brothers, Yossi, who was also kidnapped from Be'eri, died in Gaza after 100 days in captivity.
Mr. Sharabi and several other released hostages were flying to the United States on Monday to meet this week with administration officials, including a potential audience with President Trump.
Mr. Sharabi's mother and three remaining siblings rejoiced over his return on Feb. 8, part of a cease-fire involving exchanges of hostages for Palestinian prisoners. But they said they had agonized beforehand, not knowing whether he was aware of the fate of his family or how they might break the news to him.
Forced by his captors to speak during the live broadcast at his handover ceremony, Mr. Sharabi said he was happy to be returning to his wife and daughters. His surviving brother, Sharon Sharabi, told The New York Times shortly after his release that his brother's captors had told him his family was waiting.
'No book or manual was ever written for such a complicated situation,' Sharon said. 'It was amazing to see him standing on his own two feet. But there's a long journey of healing ahead. He is only just beginning to process and mourn his loss.'
Although the Israeli public has had time to digest the trauma of the attack, the hostages existed in a kind of time warp. They had limited or no access to television or radio, according to some who were released. In many cases, they have returned to incomplete families.
Those who lived in ravaged border communities like Be'eri came back to find their homes, friends and neighbors gone.
Some released hostages left loved ones behind. Arbel Yehud was freed on Jan. 30, but her partner remains in captivity. Iair Horn was released two weeks later, but his brother is still in Gaza. Yarden Bibas returned from Gaza alone after his wife, Shiri, and their young sons, Ariel and Kfir, were killed in captivity.
Yossi Sharabi died when an Israeli airstrike collapsed the building in Gaza where he was being held. The family holds Hamas responsible for his death, saying the group had dragged him into a war zone. His body may return only in future phases of a cease-fire deal that have yet to be negotiated.
'Nobody really knows about the next phase or the one after,' said Nira Sharabi, Yossi's widow and the mother of their three daughters, who also survived the attack.
'I'm not a politician,' she said, adding, 'I prefer to focus on Yossi coming back.'
Eli Sharabi's brother, Sharon, met him shortly after his release, as he arrived by helicopter at Sheba Medical Center near Tel Aviv, wrapped in an Israeli flag. By then, Eli already knew the truth about his family.
In the only interview he has given since his release, he told Israel's Channel 12 television that the first Israeli to receive him, a military psychologist, told him his mother and sister were waiting for him. He understood then that his wife and the girls had been killed.
He said in the interview that he only hoped that their deaths were over quickly and that they felt no pain. Sharon said the invitation from the Trump administration came after the poignant interview was aired.
Eli Sharabi, who marked his 53rd birthday in the hospital on Feb. 13, said he had been kept underground in Hamas's tunnel network, in darkness, his legs constantly shackled, with one small meal of pasta or a piece of pita bread per day. Many Israelis were outraged over how wan and bony he and two other hostages released with him appeared, saying they reminded them of Holocaust survivors.
'I was shocked,' Sharon said. 'I'd been told he would be thin, but I didn't imagine how thin. It was extreme.'
It took his brother time to be able to eat again after being starved, but his food intake has slowly increased, Sharon added.
The Sharabi brothers grew up in Tel Aviv, but Eli moved to Be'eri, a communal village, on a youth program when he was 15. Years later, Yossi Sharabi followed him there.
Eli Sharabi married Lianne, a British citizen who had come to Be'eri as a volunteer at 19 and went on to work in a dental clinic. Yossi Sharabi married Nira, a nurse from another cooperative village in southern Israel. In Be'eri, the brothers and their families lived a few minutes' walk apart.
Eli worked as the community's treasurer before becoming a financial manager of companies outside the kibbutz. His brother worked at Be'eri's printing press.
'It was a beautiful life, in nature,' Nira Sharabi said. 'The kibbutz had everything. Everyone knew everyone and was in each other's lives, for good and for bad.' The two families would often eat Sabbath eve meals together and meet on Saturdays at the communal swimming pool.
That was all shattered on Oct. 7.
About 100 residents of Be'eri — roughly a tenth of the community — were killed in the attack, when militants fired barrages of rockets from Gaza and gunmen invaded Israeli border towns and villages, army bases and an outdoor music festival.
As the attackers rampaged, Lianne Sharabi sent Nira Sharabi messages saying that the terrorists had arrived and pleading for help, Nira said. Half an hour later, she said, gunmen were inside Nira and Yossi's house as well and immediately shot their dog, Choco. After being marched outside, Yossi, their daughter's boyfriend, Ofir Engel, and a neighbor, Amit Shani, 16, were captured and driven to Gaza. Nira led her daughters and some neighbors into a nearby house where they hid until they were rescued by soldiers, Nira said.
After the chaos, Nira managed over the next few days to piece together bits of information about what had happened to Eli Sharabi and his family, including from text messages others had received and from witnesses. Lianne Sharabi was confirmed dead on Oct. 11. The deaths of her and Eli Sharabi's daughters were confirmed over the following week. Nira's nephew, who had been attending the musical festival, was killed in an attack on a bunker where he was hiding.
Ofir Engel and Amit Shani were released from captivity during a brief truce in November 2023.
Nira Sharabi was interviewed at her new, temporary home in Kibbutz Hatzerim in southern Israel, one of hundreds of quickly built dwellings erected in long rows to house the survivors of Be'eri until their community is rebuilt.
Her home was incinerated and has since been razed. Eli Sharabi's house is still standing but all those around it are in ruins, she said.
The kibbutz has refrained from demolishing the houses of hostages to allow them some closure upon their return. The members will eventually vote on whether to preserve some of the structures.
'I'm for taking it all down,' Nira Sharabi said. 'It will live in our hearts, in our minds. The land is soaked in blood.'