Eli Sharabi was taken captive by Hamas, and released on Feb. 8. He is the author of “Hostage.”

On Oct. 7, 2023, terrorists broke into my home in Kibbutz Be’eri. My wife, Lianne, our daughters Noiya and Yahel and I hid in our safe room as the gunmen burned and murdered their way through the kibbutz. After they took me, I was seized, bound and dragged into Gaza. My first experience was not only with Hamas fighters but also with an ecstatic civilian mob — men, women, children — fighting each other to rip me limb from limb. The Hamas terrorists needed to push the mob back. I did not know my wife and daughters had already been murdered. The hope that they were alive carried me through 491 days of captivity, a hope that was only destroyed upon my release.

See Full Page