US President Donald Trump watched translated excerpts of an interview given by captivity survivor Eli Sharabi to the "Uvda" program, and invited him and other captivity survivors to the White House, Sharon Sharabi, Eli's brother, said in an interview with Keshet 12 this morning.
Sharabi and other captivity survivors are due to fly to Washington tomorrow for the meeting, which will take place on Tuesday.
During the interview, Sharabi revealed shocking incidents from captivity, and claims that although he was never a religious person, it was exactly at the deepest moments of darkness that he discovered the power of faith.
"I'm not a religious person, but from the moment I was kidnapped, I said 'Shema Yisrael' every morning, something I've never done in my life," Sharabi said with emotions. "The power of faith is crazy. I felt that there was someone watching over me."
"I make Kiddush for myself and said Friday night prayers for my mother, my sisters, my wife and my daughters," he added with tears.
The interviewer questioned, "Is God in the tunnel?" and Sharabi replied, "There's something watching over you in the tunnel and you find a lot of comfort there."
Sharabi told some details of the many hardships he endured during the sixteen months he was held in captivity. Among other things, he described that he saw Ohad Yahalomi in the tunnels, alive but in serious condition. Ohad's body was returned to Israel.
Sharabi spoke about the cruel psychological terror Hamas used throughout his time in captivity, especially as he was about to be released, when his captors told him that he would meet his wife and two daughters at Re'im, even though they had been murdered on October 7th.
When he was transferred to the IDF forces, they told him the devastating news.
Eli Sharabi survived in Hamas captivity for almost 500 days. His daughters Yali and Noya and his wife Lian were murdered on October 7th. Sharabi was kidnapped from Kibbutz Be'eri with his late brother Yossi, who was also murdered.