The Memoir From Israel’s Eli Sharabi on TIME’s 100 Must-Reads of 2025
Eli Sharabi is a former Israeli hostage released from 491 days of captivity during which he was held in Gaza by terrorist organization, Hamas, in terrible conditions. He remained in filthy, vermin-infested, underground tunnels, his legs chained, and surviving on tiny portions of mouldy bread, as AP reported. This followed his barbaric abduction from his family home on Kibbutz Be’eri, in the south of Israel, on October 7 2023.
Moreover, on the day of his release, almost a year and a half later, he learned the tragic fate of his beloved family; his wife Lianne, and their two young daughters Noiya and Yahel, the memory of whom had helped sustain him throughout his ordeal. They had been brutally murdered, hours after he was kidnapped, with his last recollection of them, the look of terror in their eyes as he was dragged out of their home.
Sharabi’s book, Hostage, the fastest-selling book in Israel’s history, originally published in Hebrew, and now out in English, is his story. It has been included among TIME magazine’s list of must-read books for 2025, ensuring that his shocking account, but also his determined resilience, gain the wider audience they deserve.
A Fitting Tribute From TIME Magazine
The news of TIME magazine’s decision to honor Sharabi by including his book on the publication’s list of 100 must-read books alongside works from Margaret Atwood, Patti Smith, and Nobel laureate Han King, is testament to the lessons that humanity can learn from Sharabi’s experience, and to ensure that the suffering he endured should never be forgotten. Parts of the book were also included in a special October 2025 TIME edition featuring Sharabi on its cover.
TIME critic, Hamilton Kane, wrote in the publication, as quoted by YNet News, that “In his bestselling memoir, Eli Sharabi, an Israeli abducted by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023, and held captive for 491 days, recounts his imprisonment in chilling detail. He describes the dawn raid when he was separated from his wife and daughters, and the long ordeal through the tunnels beneath Gaza.”
Sharabi Remains a Symbol of Resilience
When Sharabi was photographed being handed back to Israel after his release by armed, balaclava-clad terrorists on February 8, 2025, the world gasped. His emaciated body and gaunt and haunted look couldn’t conceal the deliberate starvation and other horrors he had been subjected to.
Weighing just 44 kilograms (97 pounds) on his release, millions could see with their own eyes that he resembled a Holocaust survivor, a fact that exposed the repulsive nature of his captors, and horrified the world.
Hostage, a raw and unflinching memoir that the New York Times described as a testimony to his suffering and his hope, doesn’t hold back from covering the severe cruelty Sharabi and other hostages were subjected to.
As reported in The Times of Israel, starvation was the most difficult thing he experienced, though he also endured isolation, beatings (several of his ribs were broken), and psychological abuse. However, in the extracts from Sharabi’s book quoted by TIME, his inner strength and resolve to survive also shine through.
Describing the determination of fellow hostages and himself to fight back from within, and draw strength from small victories, he writes: “In all the hard moments—the fights, hunger, humiliating searches, and conflicts between us—we try to create moments of strength. Moments of togetherness.”
And Sharabi’s book makes it clear that his family memories together with spirituality helped sustain him, offering crumbs of fulfilment despite the unbearable context. He explains how he had led a largely secular life, but is still someone rooted in faith due to his traditional upbringing, and regularly prayed alongside his fellow captives.
For instance, when discussing the attempts of some of the starving hostages to commemorate the holy Sabbath traditions, he writes: “I sing with my eyes closed, thinking about the women in my life: my mom, my sisters, Lianne, Noiya and Yahel. Elia [a fellow hostage] doesn’t know the song. I teach him the words every Friday, till he starts joining me and we sing together. “ He later adds that these are “songs I remember my father singing. And that memory comes as a pinch of sweetness.”
As he touchingly explains of the traditions the hostages strove to follow “It brings to life the whole cast of characters waiting for me. Mom. My siblings. Lianne. The girls. I imagine returning to all of them. I imagine their hugs. I imagine the souls I love most enveloping me in light.”
These poignant memories from home were a source of power as well as comfort for Sharabi. They reminded him, he shares, why he had to survive, and who and what he was surviving for.
More recently, asked how he is rebuilding his life by Hadassah Magazine in September 2025, Eli’s resilient approach is clear. While he accepts that he can’t bring back his precious family, he says that as someone who loves life, lamenting what happened on repeat won’t give him anything:
“I really, really believe that my Lianne and my daughters are really, really proud of what I’m doing now and wishing me a great life and not a sad life. I wake up every morning and say, ‘I choose life,’ again and again,” he shares.
