Heartbreaking – Eli Sharabi, recently freed from Hamas captivity discovers wife, daughters, and brother were killed by Hamas; he didn’t know until his release

Psalm 34:18 - The LORD is near to the brokenhearted and saves those crushed in spirit. 

Eli Sharabi was released by the Hamas terror group after 491 days in captivity. While Eli, like his fellow captives, returned thin, pale, and emaciated from the malnutrition and deprivation during his captivity, the cruelest treatment may not have been depriving him of food and sunlight. 

During the year and a half that Eli Sharabi was held by Hamas in tunnels underground, he did not know that his wife, Leanne, his two daughters, Noya (16) and Yahel (13) as well as his brother Yossi, had all been killed by Hamas. 

In a sign of the unspeakable cruelty of the Hamas captors, Sharabi was informed of his brother’s death just as he was being paraded on the stage set up for the release, in front of the cameras and a watching world. 

Shortly after, Hamas terrorists, having given him a "release certificate," asked Sharabi how he was feeling. He responded that he was excited to return to his family and see his wife and children again. The terrorists recorded the scene, fully aware that the world did not know the truth – that Leanne, Noya, and Yahel had already been killed by Hamas during the attack on Kibbutz Be'eri.

HORRIFYING: Hamas forced Eli Sharabi to say: “I am so happy to return to my wife and daughters.”

Hamas was fully aware that all three had been murdered by Palestinian terrorists on Oct. 7th.

pic.twitter.com/vxNwmYYcN9

— Eyal Yakoby (@EYakoby) February 8, 2025

Israel's Channel 12 News also reported that upon greeting the IDF soldiers who would take him to be reunited with his remaining family, Eli Sharabi told them that he was looking forward to seeing his wife and daughters again, unaware that they had been brutally murdered. 

Eli’s brother, Sharon “Ron,” campaigned for his release throughout his captivity and spoke of the bittersweet moment the family experienced after hearing that he would be released.

“Eli is the last remnant of the Sharabi family still living in Gaza captivity,” Sharon said on Friday. We have lost four members of the family. Around the Shabbat table, five chairs are missing. Four of them will never be sat in again.” 

Kibbutz Be’eri, from where Eli was taken captive, and where his wife and daughters were killed that horrible morning, released a statement upon hearing of Eli’s release. 

“Eli is returning from an impossible reality in captivity to a very difficult reality in Israel,” the statement said. “A reality in which those dearest to him are no longer alive. On October 7, Eli lost his daughters, Noya and Yahel, and his wife, Leanne, who were murdered in their house in Be’eri in the terrible massacre. His brother, the late Yossi Sharabi, was murdered in captivity, and his body is still being held in Gaza. We will embrace him and give him the best possible support.” 

Eli Sharabi had lived in Kibbutz Be’eri since he was 14. He completed his education, worked for the kibbutz, and met his wife, Leanne, when she came to serve as a volunteer from England. His daughters were born there, too. His entire life unfolded in the kibbutz.

Now, like the kibbutz itself, which was the most devastated of all the border communities on Oct. 7, Eli Sharabi will never be the same. 

Ron, Eli’s only surviving brother, greeted him at the hospital upon his release, wrapped in a tallit [the traditional prayer shawl]. Wrapping him in a strong embrace, with tears in their eyes, Ron can be seen reciting the “Shema Israel” upon greeting his older brother. 

Eli returned to Israel a changed man, and he found that both his home and his country had also changed.

The wounds and the scars in each are bound to be deep and painful for a long time. 

As we continue to pray for the release of the remaining hostages, let us not forget to continue in prayer for those who have returned, like Eli, heartbroken and devastated. 

“The LORD is near to the brokenhearted,” says the Psalmist. Let us pray that He will be near to Eli, and all those, who like him, have come and will come home to find their worlds shattered.