Former Israeli hostage Eli Sharabi testified earlier than the United Nations Safety Council on Thursday, recounting his traumatic experiences and describing life after his return from the horrors of Hamas captivity.
Talking on the invitation of the Safety Council Presidency, at the moment held by Denmark, Sharabi addressed the council plainly in English.
“My title is Eli Sharabi. I’m 53 years previous. I’ve come again from Hell. I’ve returned to inform my story,” Sharabi started.
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“I used to reside in Kibbutz Be’eri with my British-born spouse, Leanne, and my daughters, Noya and Yael. It was a good looking neighborhood. We had been all keen about creating one of the best life for our kids and for our neighbors.”
“On October 7, my Heaven turned to Hell. Sirens started. Hamas terrorists invaded, and I used to be ripped away from my household, by no means to see them once more,” he instructed the silent council.
Sharabi described how the terrorists stormed the neighborhood and entered their dwelling, killing their canine when it barked at them.
“The terrorist infiltrated our neighborhood. The terrorist broke down our door. The canine barked and the terrorist opened hearth. My spouse and I threw ourselves over our daughters, screaming for them to cease. They dragged me away as I referred to as out to my women, ‘I shall be again.’ I needed to consider that. I did not know I ought to have mentioned goodbye ceaselessly.”
He described his anguish at seeing the terrorists killing his neighbors.
“Outdoors was like a warfare zone. My peaceable dwelling, my slice of Heaven, was gone,” he associated. “I noticed over 100 terrorists filming themselves, celebrating, laughing, partying in our gardens as they massacred my mates and neighbors.”
Sharabi additionally challenged the narrative that harmless civilians had been uninvolved within the atrocities dedicated on Oct. 7, 2023, when the Hamas terrorist group invaded Israel.
“Once we arrived in Gaza, a mob of civilians tried to lynch me,” he recounted. “They pulled me from the automobile, however the terrorists rushed me away right into a mosque. I used to be their trophy.”
Later in his testimony, he highlighted the involvement of Gaza civilians within the therapy of hostages.
“4 hundred and ninety-one days. That’s how lengthy I starved, how lengthy I used to be chained, how lengthy I begged for humanity. And in all that point, nobody got here. And nobody in Gaza helped me. Nobody. The civilians in Gaza noticed us struggling. They cheered our kidnappers. They had been positively concerned,” he defined.
Sharabi described being held in a civilian house for the primary 52 days of his captivity, the place he was “tied up with ropes. My legs and arms had been tied so tightly, the ropes tore into my flesh.”
He was given little meals and water, and the ache of the ropes prevented him from sleeping at evening. However his nightmare was solely starting.
“Then, on November 27, 2023, Hamas took me right into a tunnel, 50 meters underground,” he recalled. “Once more, the chains had been so tight, they ripped my pores and skin. They by no means took them off, not for a single second. These chains tore at me till the day I used to be launched.”
Moreover the chains and lack of ability to maneuver, Sharabi and different captives with him obtained little or no meals.
“I can’t start to explain the agony. It was Hell. I used to be fed a chunk of pita a day, possibly a sip of tea. Starvation consumed all the pieces. They beat me. They broke my ribs. I did not care. I simply wished a chunk of bread.”
Sharabi described dropping monitor of time due to the brutal therapy.
“For months, we lived like this. I finished counting the times. Residing as a hostage, you do not know how the day will start, nor the way it will finish. Whether or not you reside or die. At any second, they might beat you. At any second, they might kill you.”
Past the bodily abuse was the psychological torture.
“Psychological terror was fixed. On daily basis they instructed us, ‘The world has deserted you. Nobody is coming.'”
Sharabi recounted assembly fellow hostage Alon Ohel, who remains to be in being held by Hamas in Gaza.
“By the point I met Alon Ohel, who’s now 24 years previous, we had already endured horrible captivity,” Sharabi mentioned. “We relied on one another for survival. Alon is a really gifted pianist, and I bear in mind how he would fake to play the piano on his physique to maintain himself sane.”
Holding up an image of Alon used within the hostage protests, Sharabi remarked, “He would not look any extra like that.”
“Once I was launched, he grabbed onto me, terrified to be left behind,” Sharabi added. “He instructed me he was completely satisfied for me. I promised him it was only a matter of days earlier than he can be dwelling too. I used to be unsuitable.”
He shared how Hamas didn’t cease the psychological abuse, even when he was about to be launched.
“Simply earlier than my launch, Hamas took pleasure in exhibiting me an image of my brother Yossi,” he shared. “They instructed me he was useless. It was like that they had introduced a large hammer down on me. I refused to consider it. My brother Yossi was all coronary heart. These with him in captivity instructed me that he gave his meals to others.”
Sharabi instructed the UNSC that he was not conscious that his spouse and daughters had been killed till after he was launched.
“I stood at that sick Hamas ceremony, surrounded by terrorists and a crowd of so-called uninvolved civilians, hoping my spouse and daughters had been ready for me.”
Sharabi criticized the Purple Cross, which has not visited the hostages at any level all through the 17 months of the warfare in Gaza.
“On the handover, I met a consultant from the Purple Cross. She instructed me, don’t fret, you might be secure now. Protected? How might I really feel secure surrounded by terrorist monsters? The place had the Purple Cross been for the previous 491 days?”
However the biggest shock was discovering that he alone had survived from his household.
“Then I arrived dwelling. They instructed me my mom and sister had been ready for me. I mentioned, ‘Get me my spouse and daughters.’ And that was after I knew. They had been gone. They’d been murdered.”
Addressing the UN physique, Sharabi requested why nobody helped the hostages.
“I am right here earlier than you now to present my testimony and to ask: The place was the United Nations? The place was the Purple Cross? The place was the world?”
Sharabi additionally testified that Hamas stole the humanitarian assist meant to be distributed to the civilians in Gaza.
“I do know that you just focus on the humanitarian scenario in Gaza fairly often, however let me inform you, as an eyewitness, I noticed what occurred to that assist. Hamas stole it.”
“I noticed Hamas terrorists carrying containers with the UN and UNRWA emblems on them into the tunnel, and dozens of containers paid by your authorities, feeding terrorists who tortured me and murdered my household,” Sharabi mentioned, scolding the council. “If you communicate of humanitarian assist, bear in mind this: Hamas eats like kings whereas hostages starve.”
“My title is Eli Sharabi. I’m not a diplomat. I’m a survivor,” he concluded. “Convey all of them dwelling. Now.”
Israel’s UN Ambassador Danny Danon echoed Sharabi’s outrage and condemned the silence of the worldwide neighborhood.
“Since October 7, this chamber has handed 77 resolutions, none of which condemned Hamas,” Danon added, rebuking the council.
This text was initially revealed by All Israel Information.
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