There is still so much uncertainty around whether he will ever see his brother Eli return from Gaza that Sharon Sharabi has, until now, put off thinking about how to tell him his loved ones are dead.

A return to Israel will mean explaining to a man, no doubt already broken after so long in captivity, that his darling British wife and teenage daughters were killed on Oct 7 by the same terrorists who brutally kidnapped him. Piling the agony on, Sharabi will also have to break the news that Eli’s adored big brother Yossi was killed after being taken hostage himself too.

Until now, such thoughts have been present but rarely articulated. Sharabi, 49, and his family – aside from Yossi and Eli, he has two other siblings – have been too busy travelling around the world, imploring all who will listen that the hostages have to be released by Hamas.