"In Eli Sharabi's first hours of freedom earlier this year, a social worker led him to a room stocked with shampoo, toothpaste, and soap. In Gaza's tunnels, he had gone months without bathing; now he could scrub off the grime of captivity. He had sustained himself through his 491 days as a hostage by picturing the moment when he would rush into the arms of his wife and daughters."
"Today, the last of the living Israeli hostages were liberated after more than two years-and their release has liberated the Israeli psyche from its fretful obsession with their fate. Having invested themselves so deeply in the hostages' story, Israelis greeted the moment as an ecstatic conclusion that helps justify the terrible toll of their nation's longest war. The hostages' release is, indeed, an epochal moment, one that may not end the war in Gaza but will certainly redirect its course."
Survivors endured prolonged captivity and deprivation, with Eli Sharabi spending 491 days in Gaza's tunnels and relying on imagined reunions to survive. Upon release, basic comforts such as shampoo and soap enabled cleansing, but Sharabi learned that Hamas had murdered his wife and daughters in their home's safe room. The liberation of the remaining Israeli hostages shifted the national psyche from anxious fixation to ecstatic relief and helped justify the war's heavy costs. The release represents an epochal moment that may redirect the conflict without ending it. Historical parallels show that survival can carry lasting torment and deep psychological consequences.
Read at The Atlantic
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