Released hostage Eli Sharabi’s first request when he was back in Israel was to see his family, unaware that his wife and two daughters were killed in the Hamas onslaught on October 7, 2023, Hebrew media reported.
Sharabi’s wife Lianne and their daughters, Noiya, 16, and Yahel, 13, were murdered in their home’s safe room, and he and his elder brother Yossi were taken captive. Yossi has since been confirmed dead, and Hamas is holding his body.
According to Channel 12 news, Sharabi was notified of his wife and daughters’ deaths after his return from the Gaza Strip, when he was reunited with his mother Hannah and sister Osnat.
He was already aware that Yossi had been killed, as Hamas announced the death, to great applause, as masked terrorists paraded Sharabi, Ohad Ben Ami and Or Levy in central Gaza’s Deir al-Balah before handing the emaciated hostages to the Red Cross. It’s unclear if Sharabi knew of Yossi’s death beforehand.
Like Sharabi, Levy is also returning to tragedy. His wife Eynav Elkayam Levy was murdered in the Hamas attack on the Nova music festival, where Or Levy was abducted. He spoke with their 3-year-old son Almog in a video call after being released.
Sharabi and Ben Ami are longtime friends from Kibbutz Be’eri, which was ravaged in the Hamas onslaught. The community said in a statement that Sharabi “is coming back from one impossible reality in captivity, to a most terrible reality in Israel.”
“We embrace him, and we’ll continue offering the best support possible,” the kibbutz said.
Sharabi, Ben Ami and Levy returned Saturday in the fifth release of the Gaza ceasefire and hostage deal’s first phase. They were held captive for 491 days.
All three have been transferred to hospitals in Israel: Sharabi and Levy to Sheba Medical Center at Tel Hashomer Hospital, Ramat Gan, and Ben Ami to Tel Aviv’s Ichilov Hospital.
Hamas kidnapped 251 people on October 7, 2023, when thousands of terrorists stormed southern Israel to kill some 1,200 people, sparking the war in Gaza.
Seventy-three of the hostages remain in Gaza, including the bodies of at least 34 confirmed dead by the IDF.
Hamas has so far released 21 hostages — civilians, soldiers, and Thai nationals — during a ceasefire that began in January. The terror group freed 105 civilians during a weeklong truce in late November 2023, and four hostages were released before that.
Eight hostages have been rescued by troops alive, and the bodies of 40 hostages have also been recovered, including three mistakenly killed by the Israeli military as they tried to escape their captors.
Hamas is also holding two Israeli civilians who entered the Strip in 2014 and 2015, as well as the body of an IDF soldier who was killed in 2014. The body of another IDF soldier, also killed in 2014, was recovered from Gaza in January.