By Cory Meyer
AIPAC
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Eli Sharabi, 52, Or Levy, 34, and Ohad Ben Ami, 56, were released from Hamas captivity Saturday morning, Feb. 8, after surviving 491 days in hell.
Gaunt and emaciated after being starved by their barbaric captors, the three men were forced to participate in another despicable PR parade staged by Hamas terrorists. The International Red Cross again stood idly by as the terrorists tormented the hostages. Hamas eventually handed the three Israelis to the Red Cross who brought them to IDF forces.
The photos of the three smiling men before October 7, juxtaposed against their condition Saturday after 16 months of torture, begin to reveal the unimaginable cruelty they endured.
“The whole world must look directly at Ohad, Or, and Eli—returning after 491 days of hell, starved, emaciated and pained—being exploited in a cynical and cruel spectacle by vile murderers,” Israeli President Isaac Herzog said. “We take solace in the fact that they are being returned alive to the arms of their loved ones.”
Eli Sharabi returned home to the tragic reality that he would never see his family again.
Sharabi’s wife, Leanne, and their two daughters, Noya, 16, and Yahel, 13, were murdered on October 7. His brother, Yossi, was murdered in captivity with his body still held in Gaza.
Up until his final moments before being released, Eli did not know their fate. In yet another example of Hamas’ depravity, the terrorists forced him to announce that he was excited to reunite with his wife and daughters this morning, fully aware that they had murdered them.
Eli was embraced by his mother and sister at the hospital this afternoon.
Or Levy also returned home to devastating news.
His wife, Eynav, who was with him at the Nova Music Festival on October 7, was murdered.
Or’s three-year-old son, Almog, has been without his parents for 491 days. Today the father and son reunited for the first time and began the long and difficult road toward healing together.
Ohad Ben Ami was abducted alongside his wife, Raz, on October 7. She was freed during the hostage deal in November 2023 and has been advocating tirelessly for his release.
Ohad’s mother, Michal Cohen, said she was devastated to see her son look so thin and unwell. “He looks terrible. He is 57, but he looks ten years older. It is so sad for me to see him like this,” she said. “He looked like a skeleton.”
Family members watched in shock as the first images of Ohad emerged during the live broadcast this morning. Later, he was brought to the hospital for his first embrace with his wife and daughters.
Details are beginning to emerge about the horrific conditions that the three men endured in captivity. They were starved for months, surviving on hardly any food. According to preliminary medical evaluations, their heart, rib, and intestinal muscles are severely weakened and the damage will take substantial time to heal.
“We have again seen the monsters of Hamas,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Saturday. “These are the same monsters who slaughtered our citizens and abused our hostages. I say to them again: They will pay the price. We will eliminate Hamas, and we will return our hostages.”
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Meyer is director of communications for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee