Eli Sharabi’s new partner vows to help care for daughters of brother killed in Gaza

About eight months after his release from captivity, Eli Sharabi, who lost his wife Lianne and two daughters, Noiya and Yahel, during the Oct. 7 massacre and spent nearly a year and a half in Hamas tunnels, is beginning a new chapter.

Sharabi, who has since become a symbol of hope and an activist in the campaign for the release of hostages, is now in a relationship with Yaara Krispil, a body‑and‑movement architect who runs a clinic for pain treatment and sports‑injury rehabilitation.

The couple made their first public appearance this week at the opening gala of Tel Aviv Fashion Week, where Sharabi also walked the runway. The next day, they attended the funeral of his brother, held at Kibbutz Be’eri, where Yossi had lived.

At the midday service, President Isaac Herzog spoke, as did Yossi’s wife Nira and their daughters Yuval and Ofir. Also eulogizing were former captive Ofir Engel — partner of Yuval and a fellow former hostage of Hamas — and Yossi’s siblings: Osnat, Eli and Sharon.

In his moving tribute, Eli Sharabi addressed his brother: “Yossi, my brother, today, after more than two years of waiting, anxiety and uncertainty, we finally have the honour of burying you here at home, on the land of Be’eri. It is not the end we longed for, but it is a beginning of delayed justice, of a place to breathe, of a place to cry.” He described his brother as a rare figure: “You were more than a brother, you were an anchor. A man with a huge heart, quiet dedication, a family man, a father of three daughters who was always there with a kind word, a smile, a wide heart. You did not seek headlines, just to be good — and you were good, the very best.”

He went on to recall the day Yossi’s fate was sealed: “On that dreadful day, Oct. 7, you were seized from your world and the world of those who love you and taken to Gaza. Unfortunately, more than two years have passed — two years of heroic struggle by Nira, Yuval, Ofir and Oren; by our mother, Sharon, Osnat and Hila; and by the entire family, with much support from friends, the Be’eri community and the whole of Israel. Because love does not forget, and family and friends never give up.”

Eli concluded: “Today we say goodbye, today we say thank you — for the life you led, for the example you set, for the love you left in us even when you are not here. Yossi, my dear brother, our hearts are broken, but our heads are held high, because you earned to be buried here, in the land you loved, in the heart of your community, among people who did not forget. We will continue in your name, in your memory, in your way. And we will promise to remember, to tell and to love — just as you loved. May your memory be a blessing, my brother. Rest in peace.”