Yossi Sharabi, 53, from Kibbutz Be’eri, declared dead 102 days after capture
Brother Eli Sharabi is still missing and Eli’s wife and daughters were killed on October 7
On January 16, the Sharabi family confirmed the death of Yossi Sharabi, 53, who was taken hostage to Gaza. This is the story of his capture:
On October 7, Yossi Sharabi, 53, a resident of Be’eri, was seen being taken by Hamas on a pickup truck, along with Ofir Engel, 18, a Jerusalem resident who was visiting the family for the weekend.
Wife Nira told The Times of Israel in November that the family was awoken at 6:30 a.m. by sirens, and hurried into their safe room with a bottle of water as the house filled with the scent of baking jachnun, the savory Yemenite pastry often left baking overnight to be eaten on Shabbat.
The sirens didn’t stop, said Nira, and they heard shots being fired outside as well as yelling in Arabic. Yossi Sharabi kept peering out the windows of their home to see what was happening, and holding the safe room door closed when they were all inside.
The Hamas terrorists arrived at the Sharabi home at 12:30 p.m., entered their safe room and immediately shot and killed the family dog.
The terrorists then walked the family outside, Nira and her daughters still in pajamas, and seated everyone on a kibbutz lawn, along with an elderly couple and another family.
They kept shuffling the family from place to place in the kibbutz, walking them in complete silence, until they were brought to a street where a black car was waiting. Ofir and the eldest Sharabi daughter Yuval were holding hands, and the terrorists told them to break their hold, then motioned to Yossi and Ofir to get into the car, along with a neighbor’s 16-year-old son, Amit Shani. That was the last time they saw Yossi and Ofir.
Hamas also broke into his brother Eli Sharabi’s home, shouting in Arabic and laughing loudly, according to text messages between other family members with Eli, his wife Lianne and their daughters, Noiya, 16 and Yahel 13.
The terrorists shot the family dog, then took the family hostage in their safe room and set fire to the house.
Eli Sharabi’s family was at first considered missing until the bodies of Lianne, Noiya and Yahel were identified more than a week later.
There has been no sighting of Eli Sharabi on social media or in photos and videos posted by Hamas.
“My job is to bring my brothers home,” said Sharon Sharabi, a surviving brother.
Ofir Engel, 18, and Amit Shani, 16, were released on November 29 as part of a temporary ceasefire deal brokered by Qatar and the United States between Hamas and Israel.
