An Israeli man who was held hostage by Hamas for 491 days has described how he was starved while in captivity and recalled the moment on his release from Gaza \u2013 when he found out his wife and daughters had been killed during the October 7, 2023 attacks. <\/p>\n
Eli Sharabi was released earlier this month along with Ohad Ben Ami and Or Levy as part of the Gaza ceasefire and hostages agreement between Israel and Hamas. <\/p>\n
The 52-year-old Sharabi said his captors had not told him that his wife Lianne and daughters Noiya and Yahel were killed during the 2023 attack. Instead, he learned of their fate after his release. <\/p>\n
In an emotional televised interview that aired Thursday on Israeli Channel 12, he recalled the moment he was taken by the Red Cross to an Israel Defense Forces post where psychologists and a family friend, a social worker, awaited. \u201cI said, \u2018Bring me my wife and the girls,\u2019\u201d Sharabi recalled. \u201cShe told me, \u2018Osnat [his sister] and Mom are waiting for you.\u201d <\/p>\n
Choking back tears, Sharabi added: \u201cIt was clear that there\u2019s no need to tell. Because at that moment, she had already told me. It\u2019s clear that the worst has happened.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cI really hope they didn\u2019t feel pain in their last moments. That it happened fast and wasn\u2019t painful. I hope they are in a good place,\u201d he added, his voice breaking. <\/p>\n
Sharabi also shed light on the plight of the remaining hostages, including his close friend Alon Ohel with whom he had shared a tunnel and formed an \u201cunbreakable bond.\u201d <\/p>\n
Sharabi said hostages were given one meal a day \u2013 often a bowl of pasta or half a pita \u2013 totaling just 250-300 calories. \u201cWe\u2019d cut the pita into four pieces and nibble one slice for 10 minutes, pretending it was enough,\u201d Sharabi said, adding that he dreamed of his mother\u2019s cooking. \u201cYou dream of opening a fridge \u2026 taking an egg, a vegetable, water. That\u2019s freedom.\u201d <\/p>\n
The Channel 12 interview concluded with a plea from Sharabi: \u201cPeople must understand \u2013 every hostage is someone\u2019s child, parent, sibling. Don\u2019t forget them.\u201d <\/p>\n
The ceasefire deal has seen the release of 38 hostages held by Hamas, five of whom were freed separately to the deal, as well as thousands of Palestinian prisoners and detainees held by Israel. <\/p>\n
The first phase of the truce is set to end this weekend and negotiators are yet to agree on what comes next. <\/p>\n\n
An Israeli man who was held hostage by Hamas for 491 days has described how he was starved while in captivity and recalled the moment on his release from Gaza \u2013 when he found out his wife and daughters had been killed during the October 7, 2023 attacks. Eli Sharabi was released earlier this month <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":36875,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-36874","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quickassetsmarket.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36874","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quickassetsmarket.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quickassetsmarket.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quickassetsmarket.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36874"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quickassetsmarket.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36874\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quickassetsmarket.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36875"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quickassetsmarket.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36874"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quickassetsmarket.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36874"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quickassetsmarket.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36874"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}