Thousands Honor Slain Hostage Yossi Sharabi Hy’d As He Is Laid to Rest in Be’eri

Crowds of Israelis gathered Monday to pay their final respects to Yossi Sharabi Hy”d, whose levaya procession traveled from Rishon Letzion to Kibbutz Be’eri. The levaya began at a shul in Rishon Letzion, attended by family and friends, including his brother, former hostage Eli Sharabi, who was released from Hamas captivity in January. Eli’s wife and daughter were both murdered by terrorists during the October 7 attack.

Sharabi was kidnapped from his home in Be’eri on October 7, 2023, along with his daughter’s boyfriend, Ofir Engel, and a neighbor, Amit Shani. Engel and Shani were both freed during the November 2023 hostage releases.

His body was returned to Israel earlier this month as part of a ceasefire agreement with Hamas terrorists.

As the funeral convoy made its way to Be’eri, supporters lined the roads waving Israeli flags and yellow banners bearing the symbol of the hostages, standing in silence and grief as they honored his memory.

President Yitzchak Herzog was scheduled to attend the funeral and deliver a hesped for Sharabi.

During the levaya, Yossi’s widow, Nira Sharabi, spoke tearfully: “In what world should daughters have to bury their father so early? In what world should a mother have to bury her son? In what world should a woman have to bury the love of her life when there was still so much left to do?”

She recalled meeting her husband, saying, “I remember not being able to understand how someone could have such a good heart. Over the years, as I got to know you more and more, I realized there were no hidden sides to you — only more and more of that same goodness. It wasn’t a cliché; it was the real thing.”

“How does one fill this void? How do I gather myself again?”

Nira added that she sees her husband’s presence reflected in their children: “I look at our daughters, and I see you in them. In each one of them, you appear in a different way, and together they complete you — the one I miss so deeply.”

Later, Eli Sharabi, who endured months of captivity before being freed, delivered a moving eulogy to his brother: “Today, after more than two years of waiting, of anxiety, of uncertainty — we finally have the privilege of burying you here, at home, in the soil of Be’eri. This is not the ending we had hoped for, but it is the beginning of a belated justice.”

He described his brother as “an anchor, a man with a huge heart, with quiet devotion, a family man. A father of three daughters who was always there — with a kind word, with a smile, with a generous heart. You never sought the spotlight, only to be good. And you were good — the very best.”

“Yossi, my dear brother, our hearts are broken, but our heads are held high,” Eli said. “Because you were granted the honor of being buried here, in the land you loved, at the heart of your community, among people who have not forgotten. We will carry on in your name, in your memory, in your path, and we promise to remember, to tell, and to love — just as you loved.”