Eli Sharabi’s story is one of unimaginable horror and resilience. After being kidnapped by Hamas terrorists on October 7, 2023, he endured 491 days of captivity, marked by starvation, beatings, and psychological torture. His memoir, Hostage, recounts these experiences in vivid detail, offering a glimpse into the brutal reality faced by hostages in Gaza.
But the true extent of Sharabi’s suffering became apparent only after his release. The hope that sustained him through captivity—reunion with his wife and daughters—was cruelly shattered. He returned to a world irrevocably changed by the October 7 attacks, a world where his family was no longer waiting.
This article explores Sharabi’s journey, from the moment of his capture to the devastating aftermath of his freedom. It delves into the physical and psychological torment he endured, his desperate attempts to survive, and the heart-wrenching discovery of his family’s fate. His story is a testament to the strength of the human spirit, even in the face of unimaginable loss.
The Day of Horror: Capture in Kibbutz Be’eri
On October 7, 2023, Hamas terrorists stormed Kibbutz Be’eri in southern Israel, forever altering Eli Sharabi’s life. He was torn from his home, his last memory of his daughters, Noiya and Yahel, being their “eyes frozen in horror.” The attack claimed the lives of 101 of his neighbors and approximately 1,200 others, marking a day of unimaginable tragedy for Israel.
Sharabi, a business manager, was thrust into a nightmare. His hope for reunion with his wife, Lianne, and daughters became his driving force. As he cried out, “I’ll come back!” he could not fathom the cruelty that awaited him or the devastation that had already befallen his loved ones.
“The belief that they’re alive, my concern for them, gives me strength,” Sharabi recalls in “Hostage,” his memoir .
Darkness and Despair: Inside Hamas Captivity
For 491 days, Eli Sharabi existed in literal darkness, held hundreds of feet underground. He faced constant starvation and beatings. Shackled 24/7 in iron chains that tore his skin and with hands bound so tightly that they “branded my flesh,” Sharabi said was, physically, the hardest part of captivity.
The hostages survived on meager scraps — typically, one and a half pieces of pita bread a day. “Sometimes we waited 30 hours for the next meal, the next very dry pita bread and salt water to drink,” he said. “If you find any crumb on the floor, you take it and eat it. You beg for food all the time.”
Sharabi also endured psychological torture. Hamas guards taunted Jewish hostages, demanding they recite Quran verses for fruit. “It’s a thin line between dignity and ego,” Sharabi said of the primal desire for food. He knew that his captors needed to keep him alive for leverage, but even that knowledge didn’t quell the fear that they could snap and kill him at any moment. “It was in the air all the time, every day,” he told The Post, adding that the terrorists would wave their guns, gesturing that they’d “slaughter us.”
Survival Instincts: A Desperate Fight for Life
Despite the brutal conditions, Sharabi refused to surrender. He found a razor and staged a fake fainting episode, slashing his eyebrow to bleed and feigning unconsciousness, which earned him an extra half-piece of pita for a week.
One day Sharabi spied a captor on the phone, receiving what must have been bad news. “He lets loose on me, beating me senseless. Punching me. Kicking me in the ribs,” he writes, recalling how fellow hostages tried to shield him. “I curl up, screaming in agony. Trying to crawl away, my feet still shackled.”
He understood that his captors needed to keep him alive for leverage. It got to a point, he recalled, where he felt, “You can break my hands, my legs, my ribs, no problem. Just give me more food.”
Release and Devastation: A World Shattered
Sharabi was released on February 8, 2025. Before the release ceremony, a Hamas official coached him to say he was excited to see his wife and daughter. “It was our last humiliation,” he told The Post of the propaganda spectacle. But “I imagined my daughters and Lianne would be running to me. I was very excited.”
However, his hope turned to devastation. When Sharabi was finally turned over, an Israeli social worker told him his mother and sister were waiting for him. And his wife and daughters? “Your mother and sister will tell you,” he recalled the woman saying. Immediately, he understood that they were gone.
“It was like a 5-kilo hammer on my head,” Sharabi, 53, told The Post. Lianne, Noiya and Yahel , along with the family’s dog, Mocha, were murdered at their home on October 7.
Life After Captivity: Rebuilding Amidst Loss
Returning to a world without his family, Eli Sharabi faces the daunting task of rebuilding his life. He is haunted by the knowledge of his family’s fate and the brutal reality of his captivity. He spoke at the UN about his time in captivity, when he underwent physical and psychological torture. Even the knowledge that he was worth more alive didn’t always quell the fear that his captors — who continued to conduct strip-searches — could snap and kill him at any moment.
But, Sharabi writes, he knew that his captors needed to keep him alive for leverage. “Nonstop psychological terror” was a favorite tactic, he writes. “They try to make us despair, to believe we’ve been truly abandoned and no one cares we exist anymore.”
“I didn’t meet anyone who was uninvolved in Gaza, even the civilians,” he said, recalling kids in the streets throwing shoes at the hostages as they were brought into the city on October 7. He was, he said, “nearly lynched” by the “fevered, rage-filled mob [that] wanted to tear me apart.”
A Broken Dream: The End of Peaceful Coexistence
Eli Sharabi had always dreamed of peaceful coexistence with his neighbors. However, his experiences have shattered this hope. The atrocities he witnessed have left him deeply scarred. Now, not only is the dream of returning to that shattered, so is his hope for peace. “I really wanted to live in peace with my neighbors,” he said.
“The people who burn, rape … it will take at least another two generations to educate them to love life and not to hate” before things turn around.
Even after all he has lost, Sharabi said, “I don’t have the privilege to cry in bed all day. I got my second chance. I’m free, I’m alive. Freedom is priceless.”
Conclusion: Freedom’s Price
Eli Sharabi’s story is a powerful reminder of the human cost of conflict and the resilience of the human spirit. His memoir, Hostage, offers a raw and unflinching account of his time in captivity, shedding light on the physical and psychological torment endured by hostages in Gaza. He was starved, beaten and network hundreds of feet underground.
Despite losing his family and his dream of peaceful coexistence, Sharabi’s determination to live and find meaning in his freedom is inspiring. His words are a testament to the enduring power of hope and the importance of remembering the victims of violence.
Eli Sharabi’s journey is far from over, and his story serves as a call to action. It is a reminder of the urgent need for peace and justice in the region, and a tribute to the strength of the human spirit in the face of unimaginable adversity. While Sharabi was in captivity, a funeral was held for his wife and daughters — among the 101 people killed at Kibbutz Be’eri.
Leave a Reply