After more than a year trapped in a dark tunnel under Gaza, Eli Sharabi is determined to move forward with his life, even as he knows that pain and grief will be constant companions.”It’s impossible to forget even a single moment of my captivity,” the 53-year-old Israeli former hostage told AFP in an interview on Monday.”But it does not define who I am.”Sharabi was abducted from his home in Kibbutz Beeri during the unprecedented Hamas attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023. That day, he lost almost everything.Hamas gunmen killed his wife and two daughters and also seized his brother, Yossi Sharabi, dragging him to Gaza as well.While in captivity, Eli Sharabi learned of his brother’s death, but he remained unaware that the attackers had killed his wife and daughters until he was freed during a ceasefire earlier this year that ultimately collapsed.Yossi Sharabi’s remains were returned to Israel just days ago under a new truce brokered by US President Donald Trump.”The extended Sharabi family has been waiting for this for two years,” Sharabi said calmly.”We needed closure. It’s important to us. But it’s clearly a very sad ending.”Sharabi, dressed in jeans, a white T-shirt and a black blazer, wore a yellow ribbon pinned to his lapel, a symbol of solidarity with those still held in Gaza.Under the current ceasefire, all 20 surviving hostages have been released, and the remains of 12 hostages have been returned. The bodies of over a dozen more remain in Gaza.The deaths of his wife and daughters left him shattered but also strengthened him, he said.”The sadness and the loss of my wife, my daughters and my brother will stay with me until my last day,” Sharabi said.”But I’m a person who is always optimistic, always looking for solutions, always looking ahead.”- ‘I love life’ -While in captivity, Sharabi lost 30 kilograms and endured extreme conditions: hunger, darkness, deprivation and a lack of basic hygiene.Yet he remembers most of his conversations with fellow hostages and their small efforts to keep each other’s spirits alive.Among them was Alon Ohel, with whom he shared 14 months in a tunnel beneath Gaza.”We helped each other stay human,” Sharabi said, adding that he refused to let anger dominate him.”I love life,” he said.”The loss, the sadness and the anger will run alongside my life… but they won’t control it.”Soon after his release, Sharabi wrote a memoir, “Hostage”, in which he recounts his last moments before being dragged from his home.Turning to his daughters, Noya, 16, and Yahel, 13, he said: “I will come back. I promise.”That vow sustained him through captivity.Six weeks after his release, Sharabi addressed the United Nations Security Council, delivering an impassioned speech.”I stand before you to testify — and to ask: Where was the United Nations? Where was the Red Cross? Where was the world?” he said at the time.He sees his book as a historical record. “This book had to be written,” he said. “It’s a historical document for future generations.””Hostage” has become an instant bestseller in Israel, selling over 100,000 copies.Editions are now available in Hebrew, English and French, and Sharabi hopes for more translations.He, however, has no plans to return to Kibbutz Beeri, the site of one of the deadliest massacres on October 7, where Israeli forces say hundreds of Hamas gunmen killed more than 100 civilians and took 32 hostages.When asked what he felt about his captors, he said: “It will take two generations to bring some sanity in them and they need a sane leadership.””Otherwise it’s the same.”Sharabi now dreams of a quieter life in the future.”I want an anonymous, ordinary life, to start the morning with a walk by the sea… to have a normal life with friends and family around me,” he said, a faint smile crossing his face.
After more than a year trapped in a dark tunnel under Gaza, Eli Sharabi is determined to move forward with his life, even as he knows that pain and grief will be constant companions.”It’s impossible to forget even a single moment of my captivity,” the 53-year-old Israeli former hostage told AFP in an interview on Monday.”But it does not define who I am.”Sharabi was abducted from his home in Kibbutz Beeri during the unprecedented Hamas attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023. That day, he lost almost everything.Hamas gunmen killed his wife and two daughters and also seized his brother, Yossi Sharabi, dragging him to Gaza as well.While in captivity, Eli Sharabi learned of his brother’s death, but he remained unaware that the attackers had killed his wife and daughters until he was freed during a ceasefire earlier this year that ultimately collapsed.Yossi Sharabi’s remains were returned to Israel just days ago under a new truce brokered by US President Donald Trump.”The extended Sharabi family has been waiting for this for two years,” Sharabi said calmly.”We needed closure. It’s important to us. But it’s clearly a very sad ending.”Sharabi, dressed in jeans, a white T-shirt and a black blazer, wore a yellow ribbon pinned to his lapel, a symbol of solidarity with those still held in Gaza.Under the current ceasefire, all 20 surviving hostages have been released, and the remains of 12 hostages have been returned. The bodies of over a dozen more remain in Gaza.The deaths of his wife and daughters left him shattered but also strengthened him, he said.”The sadness and the loss of my wife, my daughters and my brother will stay with me until my last day,” Sharabi said.”But I’m a person who is always optimistic, always looking for solutions, always looking ahead.”- ‘I love life’ -While in captivity, Sharabi lost 30 kilograms and endured extreme conditions: hunger, darkness, deprivation and a lack of basic hygiene.Yet he remembers most of his conversations with fellow hostages and their small efforts to keep each other’s spirits alive.Among them was Alon Ohel, with whom he shared 14 months in a tunnel beneath Gaza.”We helped each other stay human,” Sharabi said, adding that he refused to let anger dominate him.”I love life,” he said.”The loss, the sadness and the anger will run alongside my life… but they won’t control it.”Soon after his release, Sharabi wrote a memoir, “Hostage”, in which he recounts his last moments before being dragged from his home.Turning to his daughters, Noya, 16, and Yahel, 13, he said: “I will come back. I promise.”That vow sustained him through captivity.Six weeks after his release, Sharabi addressed the United Nations Security Council, delivering an impassioned speech.”I stand before you to testify — and to ask: Where was the United Nations? Where was the Red Cross? Where was the world?” he said at the time.He sees his book as a historical record. “This book had to be written,” he said. “It’s a historical document for future generations.””Hostage” has become an instant bestseller in Israel, selling over 100,000 copies.Editions are now available in Hebrew, English and French, and Sharabi hopes for more translations.He, however, has no plans to return to Kibbutz Beeri, the site of one of the deadliest massacres on October 7, where Israeli forces say hundreds of Hamas gunmen killed more than 100 civilians and took 32 hostages.When asked what he felt about his captors, he said: “It will take two generations to bring some sanity in them and they need a sane leadership.””Otherwise it’s the same.”Sharabi now dreams of a quieter life in the future.”I want an anonymous, ordinary life, to start the morning with a walk by the sea… to have a normal life with friends and family around me,” he said, a faint smile crossing his face.
