After enduring 491 days in Hamas captivity, Eli Sharabi was finally freed on Saturday morning. His long-awaited return to Israel was marred by unimaginable heartbreak after he learned that his wife, Leanne, and daughters, Noya (16) and Yahel (13), were killed during the October 7 Hamas attack.
In a heart-wrenching moment captured on video, Sharabi was seen expressing his joy upon release, saying, “I am very happy today to return to my wife and daughters,” unaware of the tragedy that had struck his family in Kibbutz Be’eri. According to BBC, as he was set to be freed, he received the devastating news that his brother, Yossi Sharabi, had died in captivity, with his body still held in Gaza.
Sharabi was among three hostages freed as part of a prisoner exchange deal under an internationally brokered ceasefire agreement, which saw Israel release 183 Palestinian prisoners. The other two hostages, Ohad Ben Ami and Or Levy, were handed over to the Red Cross before reuniting with their families in Israel.
In South Wales, Gillian and Pete Brisley, Sharabi’s in-laws, watched his release on TV, clutching a teddy bear that once belonged to their late daughter, Leanne. The stuffed toy served as a poignant reminder of the family’s profound loss and the emotional ties that spanned continents. “While Gill was crying, she was holding on to the teddy bear, which was Lianne’s from the age of about 10,” Pete Brisley shared. “When we went to the house [in Kibbutz Be’eri], it was filthy, bullet holes everywhere. We tidied up so if Eli wanted to come home to it, it looked reasonable because it was an absolute shambles.”
For months, the Brisleys had received no news of Sharabi’s fate until a sudden call informed them of his pending release. Watching him walk free was both a relief and a shock. “He looks as though he’s been to Belsen,” Pete remarked, comparing Sharabi’s gaunt, frail appearance to survivors of World War II concentration camps. “The spark that always glinted in his eyes was gone.”
The release also unleashed a flood of suppressed grief. “The emotion of seeing him brought the grief of losing our girls right up to our throats,” said Gillian Brisley. “We just sat here and cried—for our loss, with relief that Eli was on his way home, and for Yossi. Just, you know, mixed emotions.”
Sharabi was informed of his family’s deaths only after returning to Israel. The family had hoped he would have been told earlier to help him process the grief gradually, said Stephen Brisley, Leanne’s brother.
Meanwhile, Palestinian prisoners released in the exchange were welcomed in Ramallah and other parts of the occupied West Bank, with representatives claiming many required medical care, though specific details were not provided.