NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
A TIME Must-Read Book of 2025
In a raw and unflinching memoir, Eli Sharabi, a survivor of 491 days in Hamas captivity, recounts the harrowing ordeal of his abduction from Kibbutz Be’eri on October 7th, 2023, the loss of his wife and daughters, and his unyielding resolve to survive.
“I refuse to let myself drown in pain. I am surviving. I am a hostage. In the heart of Gaza. A stranger in a strange land. In the home of a Hamas-supporting family. And I'm getting out of here. I have to. I’m getting out of here. I’m coming home.”—Eli Sharabi
On October 7, 2023, Hamas terrorists stormed Kibbutz Be’eri, shattering the peaceful life Eli Sharabi had built with his British wife, Lianne, and their teenage daughters, Noiya and Yahel. Dragged barefoot out his front door while his family watched in horror, Sharabi was plunged deep into the suffocating darkness of Gaza’s tunnels. As war raged above him, he endured a grueling 491 days in captivity, all the while holding onto the hope that he would one day be reunited with his loved ones.
Eli Sharabi’s story is one of hunger and heartache, of physical pain, longing, loneliness and a helplessness that threatens to destroy the soul. But it is also a story of strength, of resilience, and of the human spirit’s refusal to surrender. It is about the camaraderie forged in captivity, the quiet power of faith, and one man’s unrelenting decision to choose life, time and time again.
In the first memoir by a released Israeli hostage, and the fastest-selling book in Israel’s history, Sharabi offers a searing firsthand account of survival under unimaginable conditions—starvation, isolation, physical beatings, and psychological abuse at the hands of his captors.
Compared to Elie Wiesel’s Night and Laura Hillenbrand’s Unbroken, Hostage is a profound witness to history, so it shall be neither forgotten nor erased.
This unflinching firsthand account is a testament to the will to survive against all odds.
- A Survivor’s Firsthand Account: The first published memoir from an Israeli hostage of October 7th—a raw, unflinching record of what captivity in Gaza actually looked like from the inside.
- 491 Days in Captivity: A gripping narrative of endurance under starvation, isolation, and sustained psychological pressure at the hands of Hamas captors.
- Unbreakable Resilience: How one man, having lost everything, made an unrelenting daily choice to keep living—and what that decision ultimately cost and preserved.
- A Witness to History: A searing firsthand account of October 7th and its aftermath—documented so that what happened cannot be minimized or forgotten.
Eli Sharabi is a former hostage who survived 491 days in Hamas captivity following his abduction from Kibbutz Be’eri on October 7, 2023. Sharabi has since become a global advocate for the remaining hostages, meeting with world leaders like US President Donald Trump, speaking at the United Nations, and sharing his story with audiences around the world. His memoir, Hostage, the first published account by a released Israeli hostage, became an instant number one bestseller in Hebrew, and the fastest selling book in Israeli history.
Born in Tel Aviv to Yemenite and Moroccan parents, Sharabi moved to Be’eri as a teenager and later married Lianne, a British woman with whom he shared two daughters, Noiya and Yahel, aged sixteen and thirteen. A longtime resident of Be’eri, Sharabi served as the Kibbutz’s business manager, as well as the Chief Financial Officer of the Kibbutz, Be’eri Printing, and other private companies in Israel. Sharabi continues to work tirelessly as a leader in the campaign for the release of captives.
