Eli returns from Hamas captivity to learn his family was murde

“I’m going through endless, overwhelming days. For the first time, I feel like I understand what the hostages must be experiencing, counting the seconds in the tunnels. When will Eli finally walk out of there on his own two feet?” said Sharon Sharabi, the brother of Eli Sharabi, who is set to be released in the first stage of the deal, and of Yossi Sharabi, who was murdered while in captivity in Gaza.

Eli’s wife, Lian, and their two daughters, Yahel and Noya, were murdered on October 7. “When we found out Yossi was murdered, I said to myself: we failed. When Eli comes home, I’ll say we succeeded,” Sharon explained. “It’s not just me—an entire nation feels the same way. It feels like all our hearts are bursting with excitement. But alongside that, there’s so much pain. Pain for October 7, for these past 16 months, for the brother Eli lost, for his wife and daughters who are no longer with us. After everything he’s been through, he’s coming back to a completely different reality—a nightmare. Without his wife and daughters, without a home.

“I don’t think there’s any chance he knows Yossi didn’t survive. Maybe he knows about Lian and the girls—maybe some terrorist told him—but not about Yossi. When he comes back and finds out, his world is going to shatter all over again,” Sharon added. “I don’t know how you prepare for such an insane situation. How do we tell him? When? There are no words that can comfort him after such devastating news. All we can do is hug him, show him that we’re here for him, and never leave his side.”

Sharon shared that the first thing he’ll do after Eli comes home is mourn. The second is to help Eli rebuild his life. “These are my life’s missions,” he said. “I’m full of faith and hope that Eli will find his way out of this loop of grief and hold on to life. I’ve been listening to testimonies, learning, and processing—it might be similar to what Eli is experiencing. I know I’ll need to be the strong person by his side. Strong, but also sensitive.”

Their mother will wait for Eli in Kibbutz Re’im. “She’s so eager to see her survivor,” Sharon said, adding that he plans to meet his brother at the hospital. “But this immense excitement is accompanied by a sense of loss. I know Yossi could have been on that same helicopter. We failed as a country in a big way. They were there far too long, and there were opportunities to save lives. The hostages are coming home, and we’re grateful to the politicians who were involved, but the ones who truly paved the way to bring them home were the IDF soldiers who gave their lives, and the bereaved families whose loved ones were murdered by the terrorists now being released. They’re the ones who deserve our gratitude.”