Ex-Hamas hostage clung to hope that family survived massacre

The father from Kibbutz Be’eri was freed in February 2025, only to learn his family had been murdered by terrorists.

By World Israel News Staff

Former Hamas hostage Eli Sharabi said the belief that his wife and daughters had survived the October 7 massacre was what kept him alive during his captivity.

In an interview with British journalist Piers Morgan, Sharabi said that hope was his only source of strength through the 18 months of being held in a Gaza tunnel.

Sharabi, 53, from Kibbutz Be’eri, was kidnapped from his home during Hamas’s invasion of southern Israel.

His wife, Lianne, a dual Israeli-British citizen, and their daughters Noiya and Yahel were brutally murdered — a fact Sharabi did not learn until after his release in a February 2025 hostage deal.

“Thank God nobody told me,” Sharabi told Morgan. “It helped motivate me to know that one day I’ll come back, as I promised my daughters before I was kidnapped. I just held onto the idea that I would hug and see them again.”

Before his abduction, the family hid together in their safe room as terrorists advanced on their home. “We assumed I would be kidnapped, but Lianne and the girls had their British passports, and we were sure it would protect them,” he recalled.

When Sharabi was finally freed — starved, tortured, and emaciated — he said the joy of his liberation was shattered the moment he reached Israeli soil.

“I just waited to hug Noiya, Yahel and Lianne on the border,” he said. “You think it’s going to be your happiest day ever, but instead, they told me about the loss of my family.”

Sharabi said he realized the “worst had happened” when, instead of his wife and daughters, it was his mother and sister waiting to greet him.

Despite the unbearable loss, he refused to criticize Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu politically when prompted by Morgan.

“I’m sure I disagree with the prime minister on some issues,” Sharabi said, “but it doesn’t matter. He is the prime minister, and he chose how to handle this war. I’m not a politician, and I’m not going to give him any grades.”

Sharabi’s brother, Yossi, was also kidnapped from the kibbutz during the onslaught.

Although Yossi was kidnapped alive, he was killed in captivity. His body, which was held by the terror group for nearly two years, was recently returned to Israel for burial.