Family of hostage murdered by Hamas beg for action to free Brits being held

07 February 2024 , 12:03

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The family of Lianne Sharabi, 48, who died in the October 7 attacks, is calling for the release of hostages (Image: The Daily Mirror)

The grief-stricken family of a hostage murdered by Hamas terrorists today claimed international diplomacy had failed.

Stephen Brisley's sister Lianne Sharabi, 48, was slaughtered alongside her daughter Noiya, 16, and Yahel, 13, in the October 7 attacks in Israel. Lianne's husband Eli, 51, and Eli's brother Yossi, 53, were taken captive during the invasion of Israel - before Stephen was sent harrowing video footage of Yossi's "execution".

Today he begged for action to free Eli and said British families faced a race against time to help those still being held in hell-hole conditions. Speaking just hours after he joined a delegation to hold crunch talks with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Qatari officials in London, Stephen said: "Now is the time for a deal, now is the time to free the hostages."

British-born Lianne moved to Israel in 1995 and spent nearly three decades living there after tying the knot with Eli. Stephen, who lives in Bridgend, said Eli's release would be a "crumb of comfort from the nightmare that led to the loss of my sister and nieces".

Exactly four months on from the Hamas attacks, Stephen said: "Yossi was taken captive separately from Eli and just over three weeks ago we found out he had been executed in captivity.

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Lianne Sharabi, 48, pictured with daughters Noiya, 16, and Yahel, 13

"We were sent videos taunting our family with psychological terror. Videos mocking us. They treated Yossi's life as though it was a game. Then after 24 hours of mental torture we received another video at the end of which Yossi's body was shown. I've seen that video many times, it's quite clear that he was executed. This is what failure looks like. The failure of international diplomacy. The failure to release hostages. These are the stakes."

Stephen also said he had put his "faith and trust" in UK officials to help free Eli and around 100 hostages still being held. But he warned: "We will hold them to account for putting that trust in them." Today marks 124 days since the chilling attack on the kibbutz farming community near Gaza.

At a press conference in London, Stephen sat next to Sharone Lifschitz, whose mother Yocheved, 85, was freed in October, but whose father, Oded, 83, remained in captivity. Sharone demanded that Hamas release the hostages and said they "did not need a deal" to free frail and elderly victims.

She said: "Hamas does not need a deal to release them. They can simply say that holding 80-year-old elderly people is not something they want to engage with. The fact that they keep hold of these elderly people in these deals means they do not care for them."

Dan Warburton