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Jacqueline Howard
BBC News
EPA
Eli Sharabi was escorted onto a stage by Hamas earlier than being handed over to the Red Cross
The British household of an Israeli hostage free of Gaza on Saturday have described a “pendulum of emotions” as he was launched 16 months after his seize.
Eli Sharabi’s brother-in-law Steve Brisley, who lives in Bridgend, Wales, expressed pleasure at his launch, however voiced considerations over Mr Sharabi’s gaunt look and whether or not he knew his spouse and daughters had been killed within the 7 October assault.
Mr Sharabi, 52, was taken by Hamas from Kibbutz Beeri on 7 October, whereas his British-born spouse, Lianne, and two teenage daughters, Noiya and Yahel, had been discovered murdered of their residence.
He was one in all three hostages handed to the Red Cross by Hamas in a choreographed launch in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza.
Reuters
Left to proper: Or Levy, Eli Sharabi and Ohad Ben Ami stood on stage earlier than being handed to the Red Cross on Saturday morning
Mr Brisley advised the BBC he was experiencing “the whole pendulum of emotions – joy and relief through to heartache and everything in between”.
“It’s the end of one part of the nightmare that we’ve been on, but beginning of the next chapter… It’s been an incredibly emotional 24 hours or so since Eli’s name appeared on the list yesterday afternoon,” Mr Brisley advised BBC Breakfast mere minutes after Mr Sharabi was launched to the Red Cross.
“To finally have confirmation that he’s alive and that he’s coming out is obviously what we’ve been working towards for last 15,16 months, but to see him paraded in the way he was in that propaganda fashion was incredibly difficult.
“And to see the bodily state of him – on one hand he is upright and strolling independently at the very least, however he is gaunt, skinny and simply the sunshine gone from his eyes.
“All the way through this, we’ve not known if he was alive or dead,” he mentioned.
A household assertion launched following Mr Sharabi’s switch to the Red Cross mentioned they had been “delighted” he’s lastly free however horrified at his bodily situation and the “grotesque spectacle” of his launch.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), which facilitated the handover, mentioned it was “increasingly concerned about the conditions surrounding release operations”.
“We strongly urge all parties, including the mediators, to take responsibility to ensure that future releases are dignified and private,” it mentioned.
Mr Sharabi’s title being on a listing of hostages to be launched on Saturday was the primary affirmation that the household had of him being alive since 2023, Mr Brisley mentioned.
A Sharabi household photograph. Left to proper: Yahel, Eli, Noiya and Lianne
IDF spokesperson
Eli Sharabi reunited along with his mom Hanna and sister Osnat after his launch
Mr Sharabi’s father-in-law Pete Brisley, who additionally lives in Bridgend, says there have been no witnesses to the assault on the Sharabi residence, which suggests the household doesn’t know whether or not he’s conscious of the deaths of his household.
“We still don’t know whether he knows that he’s lost his family, his wife and daughters because nobody knows whether he saw them murdered or whether he was taken outside before,” he advised the BBC’s Lucy Manning.
“It’s just very, very emotional here.
“It’s nice to see him launched, however I wasn’t anticipating to see him wanting like that, so very very skinny and emaciated.
“He looks like he’s just come out of a concentration camp,” he mentioned.
Lianne Sharabi was Pete Brisley’s daughter and Steve Brisley’s sister, and Noiya and Yahel their granddaughters and nieces respectively.
“We’ll find out some time in the next couple of hours, because his mum and his sister are waiting at the hospital to greet him,” Pete Brisley mentioned.
“I would think his first question will be, where are they?
“If he did see them murdered, then he is needed to stay with that for the final 15 months, 16 months.”
Lianne grew up in Staple Hill, on the outskirts of Bristol, and first moved to Israel as a volunteer on a kibbutz when she was 19, before relocating to the country permanently.
After just three months in Israel, she met Eli. They had two daughters, Noiya and Yahel, who were 16 and 13 when they were killed.
One of Eli’s brothers, Yossi, was also taken hostage on 7 October, but was later killed in captivity. Hamas said his death was the result of an Israeli airstrike, which Israel said was likely.
Foreign secretary David Lammy welcomed the release of Mr Sharabi, and also Or Levy and Ohad Ben Ami, saying that “they and their households have suffered an unimaginable ordeal”.
He called for the ceasefire deal to be implemented in full, including the release of the remaining hostages.
The release of the three hostages comes under the ceasefire deal between Hamas and Israel, which came into effect on 19 January.
Israel is releasing 183 Palestinian prisoners on Saturday. More than 70 are serving life or long sentences; others are Gazans detained during the war.
The ceasefire deal sees a total of 33 hostages taken on 7 October released in weekly hand-overs in exchange for 1,900 Palestinians in Israeli prisons.
So far, 16 hostages have been freed over five releases and 566 prisoners have been released.
On 7 October Hamas seized 251 hostages and killed about 1,200 people when it attacked Israel, triggering the war.
At least 47,500 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s offensive, according to Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry.
About two-thirds of Gaza’s buildings have been broken or destroyed by Israel’s assaults, the UN says.
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