In a raw and unflinching memoir Eli Sharabi a survivor of 491 days in Hamas captivity
recounts the harrowing ordeal of his abduction from Kibbutz Be’eri on October 7th 2023 the
loss of his wife and daughters and his unyielding resolve to survive. “I refuse to let myself
drown in pain. I am surviving. I am a hostage. In the heart of Gaza. A stranger in a strange
land. In the home of a Hamas-supporting family. And I'm getting out of here. I have to. I’m
getting out of here. I’m coming home.”—Eli Sharabi On October 7 2023 Hamas terrorists
stormed Kibbutz Be’eri shattering the peaceful life Eli Sharabi had built with his British
wife Lianne and their teenage daughters Noiya and Yahel. Dragged barefoot out his front door
while his family watched in horror Sharabi was plunged deep into the suffocating darkness of
Gaza’s tunnels. As war raged above him he endured a grueling 491 days in captivity all the
while holding onto the hope that he would one day be reunited with his loved ones. Eli
Sharabi’s story is one of hunger and heartache of physical pain longing loneliness and a
helplessness that threatens to destroy the soul. But it is also a story of strength of
resilience and of the human spirit’s refusal to surrender. It is about the camaraderie forged
in captivity the quiet power of faith and one man’s unrelenting decision to choose life time
and time again. In the first memoir by a released Israeli hostage and the fastest-selling book
in Israel’s history Sharabi offers a searing firsthand account of survival under unimaginable
conditions—starvation isolation physical beatings and psychological abuse at the hands of
his captors. Compared to Elie Wiesel’s Night and Laura Hillenbrand’s Unbroken Hostage is a
profound witness to history so it shall be neither forgotten nor erased.
