Hamas ate multiple meals a day while the hostages starved, released hostage Eli Sharabi told Piers Morgan in a Wednesday interview.
While "we ate one meal a day, one–and–a–half dry pita bread per day, they used to eat five meals a day," Sharabi recounted, saying that the "purposeful starvation" was one of the worst parts of being held captive.
“It was hell for me, like for all the hostages,” Sharabi said, describing the daily humiliation, psychological terror, violence, and terrible hygenic conditions he was held in.
But, Sharabi went on, what sustained him was the belief that he would “one day be released.” It was that hope which kept him optimistic and gave him strength to survive for 491 days.
Recounting October 7, 2023
“We had been in our safe room with our daughters and our dog for four hours when the Hamas terrorists invaded our house,” Sharabi told Morgan, recounting the morning of October 7, 2023, and the fateful decision him and his wife, Leanne, made not to fight back.
“We presumed I’d be kidnapped,” Sharabi said. “Leanne, Noya, and Yahel have their British passports, and we were sure that would protect them.” It was only much later, after his release, that he learned that Hamas had murdered his wife and daughters during the massacre.
Sharabi learned from a Hamas commander two days before his release that his brother, Yossi, had also been kidnapped on October 7 and had died in captivity.
“It was very important for us to bring him back to Israel and bury him,” he said, on the return of his brother’s remains this past week. “Now we’ll have a grave to to cry on, and his wife and daughters have a place to come and be with him when they need.”
Sharabi thanked US President Donald Trump and US Envoy Steve Witkoff for the current deal, and credited them for the pressure they placed on Hamas and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“We want to live in peace and quiet,” Sharabi concluded, “and I think we deserve it after two years. Maybe now we can start to heal from out trauma.”