Eli Sharabi asks UN Human Rights Council to 'name these crimes,' recognize hostage abuse as torture

Former hostage Eli Sharabi urged the United Nations Human Rights Council to acknowledge the treatment of hostages in Gaza as torture and to initiate investigations against those responsible. In a prerecorded address, Sharabi recounted his 491-day ordeal, during which he endured starvation, beatings, and humiliation after being kidnapped from his home in Kibbutz Be'er Sheva during the Hamas attack on October 7.

His wife and two daughters were murdered, while his brother was abducted and later killed. Sharabi was released in February 2025, weighing only 44 kilograms.

The former hostage's statement was presented during the 63rd session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, which focused on Agenda Item 9 concerning racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia, and related intolerance. Sharabi referred to a September report by the Jerusalem Institute of Justice, which analyzed 6,971 data points from 251 individual hostage profiles.

The report found that at least 78 released hostages suffered from severe malnutrition and that 68% of hostages held for over 200 days were forced to appear in propaganda videos.

Sharabi also cited documentation from October 7 – Justice Without Borders, a group led by international criminal law attorney Yael Vias Gvirsman. The organization documented the physical and psychological torture inflicted on 255 hostages and their families, some for more than two years or even a decade. They provide legal representation to victims and have pursued proceedings in Israel and various international jurisdictions.

The report urges UN bodies and national authorities to investigate hostage-taking and associated abuse as potential torture, war crimes, and crimes against humanity. It calls for the recognition of former hostages and their families as torture victims, with rights to rehabilitation, compensation, and other forms of redress. Sharabi's appeal was framed as a demand for accountability rather than a political intervention, emphasizing the need for the council to recognize the torture, demand criminal investigations, and confront the terrorist networks.