‘I’ll be back’, Israeli hostage told family, but they were killed while he is still alive

Before he was kidnapped by Hamas, former Israeli hostage Eli Sharabi told his British wife and daughters “I will be back, I’ll come back to you”.

It was only when he was released, 16 months after being taken that he discovered his wife Lianne, from Bristol, and teenage daughters Noiya and Yahel were murdered by Hamas gunmen shortly after he was taken from Kibbutz Be’eri on 7 October.

His brother-in-law said it had been that promise which had kept him going throughout his captivity.

But, after being released earlier this month Mr Sharabi was told by an Israeli army officer all three had been killed in the attack.

His brother-in-law Steve Brisley, from Bridgend in south Wales, visited him in hospital in Israel last week, two days after Mr Sharabi became one of the latest hostages to be handed to the Red Cross by Hamas in a choreographed release in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza.

Mr Brisley told the BBC: “They were alive when he was taken out of the house and he said to them ‘whatever happens, whatever they do to me, I will be back. I’ll come back to you’.

“He’s a man of honour. He’s a family man. What kept him in going throughout all of this, was to keep that promise he made to Lianne and the girls.”

At his release on 8 February, Mr Sharabi made a speech on the stage and said he was looking forward to being reunited with his wife and children.

Mr Brisley added: “It wasn’t until he was in the Israeli army vehicle being transferred from Gaza into Israel that he asked ‘are Lianne and the girls waiting for me?’

“One of the soldiers had to tell him that they had in fact been murdered on the 7 October and were not waiting for him.

“It was absolutely devastating for him and not something that he will ever truly recover from. We spoke about that moment and obviously he was extremely emotional.

“We hugged together and cried together. It’s a devastating loss for him, particularly as the promise that he made to Lianne and the girls as he was taken away that I will be back, no matter what happens, I will be back.

“He kept that promise, but unfortunately, they weren’t there to see him.”

Mr Sharabi spent 490 days as a hostage and Mr Brisley said his brother-in-law has not yet spoken much about his time in captivity – but he described the “starvation” he and other hostages faced as some of the hardest moments.

“I’ve spent 16 months speaking on his behalf because he didn’t have a voice, obviously now he’s out he will have his own story and his own truth to tell,” Mr Brisley added.

Mr Brisley told BBC Radio Wales Breakfast the last week had been “intense, emotional, but cathartic”.

He said his wife and daughters were desperately waiting for news on the day before Mr Sharabi was due for release.

“We saw Eli step out of the vehicle but he was unrecognisable,” Mr Brisley said. “All four of us were saying ‘is that Eli?’, he was so drawn and gaunt, emaciated.”

Arriving at the hospital where Mr Sharabi had been transferred, Mr Brisley said: “We just threw our arms around each other, hugged, we told each other that we loved each other.”

Mr Brisley described Mr Sharabi as “incredibly skinny, emaciated, frail”.

“He’s pale, but mentally he’s so strong, it’s been incredible to see the mental strength and fortitude that he’s got,” he added.

“The most distressing thing for us was the darkness in his eyes, the light looked like it had gone.”

Mr Brisley said he wanted to make sure his brother-in-law knew he remained “an integral part of our family”.

“We will never know exactly what happened, what went wrong for them to be killed,” Mr Brisley said.

He said they had sat and talked about memories of Lianne, Noiya and Yahel.

“It was emotional, we shared tears, we shared hugs, obviously he got quite choked at times but he was able to talk about them.”

“I gave him some grief about how rubbish Manchester United have been for the last year and he laughed at that, it was that, seeing the light back in his eyes that reassured me that Eli is still in there.

“I think the most positive thing that came out of my conversations with him is that he does see a future and he does want to go on,” Mr Brisley said.

Travelling to Israel also allowed Mr Brisley to “process the loss of Lianne and the girls” as he said “it was always difficult to fully engage with our grief while Eli was still in captivity”.

He said he visited the Nova festival site and the Sharabi family home which was “cold and dark and devoid of the love and the laughter and the light that had been there 18 months ago”.

“I sat on the floor and sobbed,” he said.

“It was at once beautiful and awful, but cathartic, grief is just love that has no home,” Mr Brisley said. “Now Eli is back we have somewhere to direct that love and I think that will help us to grieve for Lianne and the girls.”

“We’re looking to close a chapter of this whole horrific book, but we’re going to be dealing with it for the rest of our life,” he said.

Lianne grew up in Staple Hill, on the outskirts of Bristol, and first moved to Israel as a volunteer on a kibbutz when she was 19, before relocating to the country permanently.

After just three months in Israel, she met Eli. They had two daughters, Noiya and Yahel, who were 16 and 13 when they were killed.

One of Eli’s brothers, Yossi, was also taken hostage on 7 October, but was later killed in captivity. Hamas said his death was the result of an Israeli airstrike, which Israel said was likely.

The terrible impact on hostages was also highlighted on Wednesday by Mandy Damari, the mother of former British-Israeli hostage Emily Damari who was also recently released.

Speaking for the first time publicly since her daughter was freed in a speech in Israel, she said her daughter now needed further hospital treatment.

“Unfortunately, Emily did not receive humanitarian aid or the correct medical treatment for her gunshot wounds in her hand and leg,” Ms Damari said.

“And therefore, must have corrective surgery this month with a period of recovery and rehabilitation afterwards.

“Many other hostages will be in the same situation as Emily was, in desperate need of food, medicine and more.”

She called for humanitarian aid to go to the hostages still being held and for all of them to be released.

Ms Damari added: “Keep fighting and praying and know that we are all with you and may all the hostages be returned to their families just as Emily, my amazing daughter, who I still love to the moon and back, was returned to me.”