Hamas's tunnels were so well fortified that military operations to get hostages out the tunnels alive would have been nearly impossible, recently released hostage Eli Sharabi told Channel 12's "Uvda" program on Thursday evening.
Sharabi, who was held hostage by Hamas for 491 days, said it was important to be transparent about his experiences: “If there’s one thing I’ve been saying to everyone from the start—family, medical staff, friends—it’s this: Don’t walk on eggshells around me,” he emphasized.
“We talk about everything. The loss, the captivity—whatever people want,” he stated during the interview.
Sharabi described his arrival in Gaza, where he was "nearly lynched" by an enraged crowd. He stated that his first 52 days in captivity were spent in an apartment, before being moved into a tunnel, where he was held for the remainder of his captivity.
Sharabi added that he met three other hostages at this point; the murdered hostages Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Ori Danino, and Almog Sarusi. He claimed that after spending "three days with them, it was as if I had known them all my life."
Sharabi shared that when the three men were taken away, he assumed that they were being released. He did not learn that they had been murdered at the end of August until he was released from captivity.
Sharabi's captivity
Sharabi, who was kidnapped from Kibbutz Be'eri on October 7, recounted when he was separated from his wife Leanne and daughters Noya and Yahel.
“The scene was simply horrific, a fear unlike anything else. Ten terrorists in the house—two grab me, two grab the girls and stand with them in the kitchen. All the while, Leanne keeps telling them, ‘British passport,’ thinking it would protect them," Sharabi recalled.
“I knew I was going to be taken. It was clear to me,” he revealed. “I yelled to my daughters, ‘I will come back!’ And from that moment, I went into survival mode. No matter what happens to me now, no matter what they do to me, I’m coming back. I will never forget the look in their eyes, how terrified they were. I just hope they didn’t suffer,” Sharabi added.
It was only after his release from captivity that Sharabi finally learned that his wife and both daughters were murdered that day.
Sharabi also recounted how he found out his brother Yossi, who was also neighbor in Be’eri, had been kidnapped and killed.
“Two days before my release, the ‘event commander’—let’s call him—was proud to show me a picture of Yossi and tell me that the Air Force had killed him. I told him, ‘Okay,’ but I didn’t believe it.”
Another kibbutz neighbor, Ohad Ben Ami, who was held separately but reunited with Sharabi before their release, confirmed Yossi's murder to him. “He pulled me aside and said, ‘Everything they told you is true.’ It felt like a five-kilogram hammer to the head,” Sharabi shared.
Sharabi is able to vividly remember his first night in the tunnel, where he spent more than a year with Or Levy, Eliya Cohen, and Alon Ohel.
“You’re 50 meters underground. The sanitary conditions are simply terrible. You shower once a month with a bottle of water, maybe half a bucket of cold water. The chains on my legs never left me from the day I arrived in Gaza until the last day. Some people were shackled only part of the time—I was chained for a year and four months, with thick, heavy locks that tore into my flesh,” he recounted
“The idea that a free person can just take fruit or drink water—that’s what you dream about every day. You don’t care about the beatings, even when they break your ribs. I didn’t care—just give me half a pita. You start to see your stomach sinking inward. At some point, you can’t believe what’s happening to your own body. During the worst periods, we ate once a day—a bowl of pasta, maybe 250-300 calories.”
Sharabi also described how statements made by Israeli leaders affected the way Hamas treated the captives.
“You could tell what was happening in the news just by their behavior. That’s why responsibility lies with the leadership. Their public statements carry immense power. The terrorists listen to them all the time. They would come to us and say, ‘Your government isn’t feeding our prisoners, so you won’t eat either. They beat our prisoners, so we will beat you. They don’t let them shower, so you won’t get a shower.’”
However, he stressed that despite what people might think, he feels "lucky."
"Im not angry. I’m lucky. Lucky that I had Leanne for 30 years. Lucky that I had those amazing daughters for so many years. Lucky that they didn’t kill me. Lucky that after 16 months, I was able to come back to my family. I’m lucky.” Sharabi concluded.
Maya Cohen contributed to this report