Fundraiser for freed hostage Eli Sharabi raises over $300,000 in hours

A fundraiser for Eli Sharabi, who was released by the Hamas terror group last Saturday after 491 days in captivity, raises more than NIS 1.1 million ($308,000) within hours, from over 6,000 individual donors.

Sharabi — who was visibly emaciated upon his release — was kidnapped from his home in Kibbutz Be’eri during the October 7, 2023, Hamas onslaught. He turns 53 today.

It was only upon Sharabi’s release that he learned terrorists murdered his wife Lianne, and their daughters Noiya, 16, and Yahel, 13, that day. His brother Yossi, who was kidnapped alongside him, died in Hamas captivity, likely as the result of an IDF strike.

“Eli’s friends and I were thinking about what we could do to help Eli, and we realized there was also a desire among the nation to help him recover,” Sharabi’s friend Sharon Eden, who set up the online fundraiser, tells Ynet.

“There are amazing people in this country. Eli is aware of the extent of the support he’s receiving, and he’s shocked by what he sees. He doesn’t understand why he’s receiving this love, and he’s moved by everything,” Eden says.

“From the moment I saw him get out of the Hamas vehicle, and he was skinny and emaciated, and everyone here was crying — I smiled, because he arrived in relatively good condition, considering what it could have been, and a condition that’s relatively easy to recover from, physically,” he says.

“We told him that we thought they’d break him, and he said: ‘They didn’t stand a chance.’ He’s sad, and it will take him time to recover, but he’s a strong person,” Eden adds.