Hollow-eyed and emaciated after nearly 500 days in captivity in Gaza, Eli Sharabi stood on a podium flanked by masked Hamas gunmen, unaware of what most Israelis already knew.

During the Hamas-led assault on October 7, 2023, a dozen gunmen had burst into Sharabi’s house in the border community of Kibbutz Be’eri, where he had been hiding in a safe room with his wife and two teenage daughters. Hoping to save them, he said he gave himself up without a fight and was taken to Gaza.

After emerging from Hamas’s tunnels last month, he would soon learn that his wife, Lianne, 48, and his daughters — Noiya, 16, and Yahel, 13 — had been shot and killed in the family home that day, along with the family’s dog, Mocha.

One of his brothers, Yossi, who was also kidnapped from Be’eri, died in Gaza after 100 days in captivity.

Sharabi’s mother and three remaining siblings rejoiced over his return on February 8, part of a ceasefire involving exchanges of hostages for Palestinian prisoners. But they said they had agonised beforehand, not knowing whether he was aware of the fate of his family or how they might break the news to him.

Forced by his captors to speak during the live broadcast at his handover ceremony, Sharabi said he was happy to be returning to his wife and daughters. His surviving brother, Sharon Sharabi, told The New York Times shortly after his release that his brother’s captors had told him his family was waiting.

“No book or manual was ever written for such a complicated situation,” Sharon said. “It was amazing to see him standing on his own two feet. But there’s a long journey of healing ahead. He is only just beginning to process and mourn his loss.”

Although the Israeli public has had time to digest the trauma of the attack, the hostages existed in a kind of time warp. They had limited or no access to television or radio, according to some who were released. In many cases, they have returned to incomplete families.

Those who lived in ravaged border communities like Be’eri came back to find their homes, friends and neighbours gone.

Some released hostages left loved ones behind. Arbel Yehud was freed on January 30, but her partner remains in captivity. Iair Horn was released two weeks later, but his brother is still in Gaza. Yarden Bibas returned from Gaza alone after his wife, Shiri, and their young sons, Ariel and Kfir, were killed in captivity.

Yossi Sharabi died when an Israeli airstrike collapsed the building in Gaza where he was being held. The family holds Hamas responsible for his death, saying the group had dragged him into a war zone. His body may return only in future phases of a truce deal.

New York Times News Service