‘Chained like animal for 491 days, I begged for food’: Israeli hostage recounts Hamas torture at UNSC
ByHT News Desk | Edited by Aniruddha Dhar
Mar 21, 2025 09:49 AM IST
Eli Sharabi said when he was released on February 8, he weighed 44 kg — less than the weight of his youngest daughter, who was killed in Hamas’ surprise attack.
Eli Sharabi, an Israeli hostage freed by Hamas after 491 days in captivity, recounted his harrowing ordeal and voiced his anger while speaking at the United Nations Security Council on Thursday.
Eli Sharabi, a former Israeli hostage released by Hamas in Gaza last month, holds of a photograph of his wife and two daughters killed by Hamas, as he addresses a meeting of the United Nations Security Council at the UN headquarters in New York City.(REUTERS)
Eli Sharabi, a former Israeli hostage released by Hamas in Gaza last month, holds of a photograph of his wife and two daughters killed by Hamas, as he addresses a meeting of the United Nations Security Council at the UN headquarters in New York City.(REUTERS)
Eli Sharabi said when he was released on February 8, he weighed 44 kg — less than the weight of his youngest daughter, who was killed along with his wife and older daughter in Hamas’ surprise attack in southern Israel on October 7, 2023, along with about 1,200 others. He was among 251 people taken hostage.
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During the captivity, Eli Sharabi claimed, he was starved, beaten and chained.
“I have come back from hell. I was kept underground, starved, beaten and chained like an animal. For 491 days, I begged for food, begged to use the bathroom, begging became my existence,” an emotional Eli Sharabi told UNSC.
Watch the video here:
Eli Sharabi questions Red Cross, UN
“Where was the United Nations? Where was the Red Cross? Where was the world?” Sharabi asked.
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Sharabi also challenged the UN’s most powerful body: “If you stand for humanity prove it" by bringing home the 59 hostages still in Gaza, many of whom are believed to be dead.
Sharabi’s appearance before the council, the second by a freed hostage, followed an Israeli request last week for a meeting on the plight of the hostages.
According to news agency Associated Press, Sharabi made no mention of Israeli actions, except to say that on the morning of October 7, when he heard that militants were inside Kibbutz Be'eri where he lived, he reassured his wife not to worry: “The army will come, they always come.” That morning, they never came.
He told the council he came to speak for 24-year-old Alon Ohel, a fellow hostage whom he left behind in the tunnel, and all others, including his older brother, Yossi, who was killed but whose body remains in Gaza.
“Bring them all home. Now!” Sharabi said.
Reactions
Britain’s deputy ambassador James Kariuki called Sharabi’s suffering “beyond the imagination” and said “Hamas must be held accountable for their despicable actions", AP reported.
Kariuki, however, said the UK condemns Israeli defence minister Israel Katz’s “warning of the total destruction of Gaza".
Britain calls for the rapid resurgence of aid to Gaza, an investigation into allegations of sexual and gender-based violence against Palestinian detainees by Israeli forces, and an urgent return to the ceasefire deal, he said.
France’s new UN ambassador, Jérôme Bonnafont, expressed his country’s deepest condolences to Sharabi but also condemned the resumption of Israel’s bombing, saying it will not ensure the release of hostages, and demanded an end to Israel's humanitarian blockade of Gaza.
Russia’s deputy UN ambassador Dmitry Polyansky told the council, “Our hearts were filled with sorrow as we listened to the tragic story of Mr. Eli Sharabi,” adding “such brutality can have no justification.”
Nearly 600 killed since Israel broke ceasefire: Medics
Local health officials said Israeli strikes killed at least 85 Palestinians across the Gaza Strip overnight and into Thursday, bringing the total to nearly 600 killed since Israel shattered a truce that had facilitated the release of more than two dozen hostages and brought relative calm since late January, AP reported.
Hours later, Hamas fired three rockets at Israel without causing casualties, in the first such attack since Israel broke the ceasefire on Tuesday.
Zaher al-Waheidi, the head of the records department at the Gaza health ministry, said Israeli bombardments have killed at least 592 people in the past three days.
The Israeli military said it was again enforcing a blockade on northern Gaza, including Gaza City. Palestinians were not being ordered to leave northern Gaza but can no longer enter, the military said, and are only allowed to move south on foot using the coastal road. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians had returned to what remains of their homes in the north during the ceasefire.
Israeli ground forces, meanwhile, are pushing into Gaza near the northern town of Beit Lahiya and the southern border city of Rafah, the military said Thursday. The operations come a day after Israel moved to split Gaza in two by retaking part of the strategic Netzarim corridor that divides Gaza's north from south.
(With inputs from AP)
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