Ex-hostage Yossi Sharabi, who was murdered while in Hamas captivity and whose body was returned to Israel during the first phase of the US-brokered Gaza deal, was buried at Kibbutz Be’eri Cemetery on Monday.
Sharabi is survived by his wife, Nira, and their three daughters, Yuval, Ofir, and Oren.
“My brother, my Yossi, today, after more than two years of waiting, of anxiety, of uncertainty, we finally get to bury you here at home,” said released hostage Eli Sharabi, Yossi’s older brother.
Both of Yossi’s brothers, Sharon and Eli, recited kaddish at the start of the funeral procession. Then the prayer El Malei Rachamim was said.
“This is not the end we had hoped for, but it is the beginning of a long-awaited justice – allowing for a space to breathe, a place to weep,” Eli Sharabi said.
“Yossi, you were more than just a brother,” he said. “You were our anchor – a person with a huge heart, quiet dedication, and a family man. You didn’t seek headlines; you just wanted to be good. And you were good. You were the best.”
“Our hearts are broken, but our heads are held high, because you were lucky to be buried here in the land you loved, in the heart of your community, among people who didn’t forget,” Eli Sharabi said. “We promise to remember, to speak, and to love, just as you had loved.”
'You were our human shield'
Nira Sharabi said she missed her soulmate.
“It’s been two years since I’ve been able to breathe, two years that I scream inside my heart and ask why?” she said during her eulogy. “In what kind of world do daughters have to bury their own father so soon? In what kind of world does a mother have to bury her son? In what kind of world does a woman have to bury the love of her life, when there is still so much left to do?”
“I met you after a long period of waiting, and when you arrived, I knew right away: This is it. It’s you. I remember not understanding how a person could have such a good heart,” she said.
“The plans we made together will not come to pass,” Nira Sharabi said. “I go to sleep alone. I wake up alone. I search for your warm hands to wrap me, to protect all of us from the world.
“You were our human shield. You took on all that I could not. You are so terribly missed. I hold on to you, as always, knowing this is the moment I must begin to let go.”
Their daughter Yuval said she had written her eulogy while in Thailand on a trip that her father planned for the family, but she ached because he was not there with them.
“I’m sitting in a hotel in Koh Samui, looking at the view of the sea – your favorite place – in the hotel you wanted, on the trip you planned,” she said. “What hurts so much, papa, is that all of this is without you: that I’m sitting down to write your eulogy.”
“How am I supposed to say goodbye to the most significant person in my life? To the one who was with me at every moment? On January 14, when they announced that you were murdered, a part of me died with you,” she said.
Yuval listed the things she had done since her father was taken hostage.
“Dad, I miss you so much,” she said. “I hope you’re proud of me for the path I’ve chosen, because that’s all I need to keep on going.”
“Just promise me one thing? Can you watch over us and accompany me wherever I go? Because I can’t continue without you. I need you, even if it’s only in my thoughts,” Yuval said.
President Isaac Herzog addressed the mourners and asked the Sharabi family and the residents of Kibbutz Be’eri for forgiveness.
“As the president of the State of Israel, and on behalf of the entire nation, I ask you, Yossi, the Sharabi family, and all of Kibbutz Be’eri for forgiveness,” he said.
“Forgive us, Yossi, for not saving you, for not bringing you home sooner,” he added. “Forgive us for failing to protect you on that cursed day. Forgive us for not standing by your side against those monsters in human form. Forgive us that it took us so long to bring you back to the familiar landscape of your homeland.”
“On days when it seems like our society is slipping back into baseless hatred, when we argue endlessly, and when the pain becomes so great that it is hard to see who the person next to us is, the Sharabi family has taught us a great lesson,” Herzog said. “This family has taught us what it means to stand together as one, what it means to be brothers and sisters in truth.”
“Yossi’s goodness, his courage and nobility, and his warmth and sweetness will remain with us always. Through this family’s power and spirit, we will continue to repair, rebuild, spread light, and cling to life with all our might,” Herzog said.
Hundreds line the street for Yossi Sharabi's funeral procession
Relatives, friends, and many supporters gathered at the entrance to Rishon Lezion’s The Great Synagogue ahead of the funeral procession. Some mourners held Israeli flags as a mark of respect.
One mourner raised a sign with the words, “We are all made of the same human fabric” on one side, while the other side read, “When one of us is taken from us, a part of us dies with them.”
Yossi Sharabi was kidnapped alive on October 7, 2023, at the age of 53 from his home in Be’eri, along with his daughter’s partner, Ofir Engel, who was released in a hostage deal.
During his captivity, Sharabi was held with Engel and Amit Shani, who came back alive. Both Engel and Shani said Sharabi was a source of comfort to them.
An IDF investigation concluded that Sharabi was killed when the building in which he was being held in Gaza collapsed following a nearby IAF airstrike on a structure that Hamas was using to plan its attacks.
Upon the announcement of Sharabi’s return to Israel, his brother Eli wrote: “Yossi, my brother, the longing has been endless, but the most important thing is that you have returned for a dignified burial in our country, the State of Israel. Perhaps for me, this closure that I had dreamed of has finally come, but until all the fallen return home, we will not stop.”