46 pages • 1-hour read
Hostage
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Chapters 4-6Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Content Warning: This section of the guide includes descriptions of kidnapping, captivity, physical deprivation, psychological abuse, violence, death, antisemitic hatred, and war.
Chapter 4 Summary
Sharabi and Almog descend a long ladder into a tunnel shaft, gripped by fear as the trapdoor closes above them. They reach a deep underground corridor and move through darkness until fluorescent light reveals a tiled, livable tunnel space with a kitchen, sink, and bathroom. The heat feels oppressive, and Sharabi drinks water continuously, struggling to breathe. Soon two new Israeli hostages—Ori and Hersh, who is missing an arm—are brought in. They confirm they were kidnapped from the Nova Festival and begin recounting how they were injured and taken. Additional young men arrive—Alon, Or, and Elia—also abducted from the same rocket shelter near Kibbutz Reim. The group recognizes Hersh and expresses shock that he survived.
As the seven hostages talk, they compare experiences and reconstruct events, including the story of Aner Shapira, who repeatedly catches and throws back grenades thrown into the shelter before he is killed in an explosion that also injures Hersh. The conversations become intense as details of violence and loss surface. Captors assign a tunnel overseer called “the Circle,” who explains he manages logistics. The hostages are moved deeper into the tunnel into a smaller room lined with seven mattresses. The captors shackle most of their legs, but the group negotiates which hostages are cuffed, and Sharabi takes the cuffs so Almog is spared.
That first night, Sharabi cannot sleep. Anxiety drives him to request repeated trips to the bathroom, where each visit requires permission. As tunnel routines begin, the captors wake early for prayer. The hostages share limited supplies, including Sharabi’s slippers, which become communal bathroom shoes. Over the next days, the group plays cards and backgammon, and Hersh shares a saying about enduring hardship by holding onto purpose, which Sharabi reflects on privately.
Religious practice also enters their routine when Ori, from an ultra-Orthodox background, recites Birkat Hamazon aloud after a meal, and the words echo through the sealed tunnel. On the third morning, captors wake Hersh, Ori, and Almog and tell them to pack. The Circle claims they are going home. Before Ori leaves, he tells Sharabi goodbye and says they will see each other in Israel. Sharabi feels jealousy and hope, believing releases may be expanding. After the three are taken away, Sharabi and the remaining hostages wait, expecting the ceasefire to continue. They never see Hersh, Almog, or Ori again.
Chapter 5 Summary
The ceasefire continues briefly, and Sharabi and the other hostages receive regular updates from their captors, who explain shifting phases of the hudna and report on hostage releases. The reopened markets and fresh bread suggest temporary stability. Sharabi still hopes for release, especially when Elia claims to overhear his name. That hope collapses on December 1, when the Triangle confirms that fighting has resumed. The hostages realize they are not next to be released and try to make sense of the renewed war, assuming it will be brief.
Or struggles emotionally more than the others, withdrawing and experiencing panic. Sharabi intervenes, urging him to focus on survival and on his family waiting outside. A daily routine takes shape: two modest meals, limited hygiene, basic medicines, and constant confinement to their cell. The Circle often speaks with them, repeating Hamas political slogans. The hostages listen carefully, choosing not to challenge him so he will continue providing information.
The four men are filmed for a propaganda video, instructed to identify themselves and appeal to the Israeli prime minister. When alone, they pass time with games, conversation, prayer, and exercise. Long discussions help them learn one another’s histories, and Sharabi gradually assumes a leadership role, drawing on his age and experience. He supports Alon, who is sensitive and prone to reliving his trauma, by encouraging him to recall positive memories. Food-sharing becomes another challenge, and Sharabi works to ensure fair distribution.
The hostages debate choice and agency, including the story of a man who chose to flee and was killed rather than be kidnapped. Sharabi insists that even in captivity, some form of choice always remains. Although he claims he will not fall apart until freedom comes, he does break down when Nightingale whispers that he has seen Sharabi’s daughters on television at a protest. The moment brings relief and doubt at once, since there is no way to confirm the sighting.
Life underground continues amid air strikes and constant fear that a rescue attempt would lead to their execution. On January 5, a powerful explosion strikes the mosque above them, cutting power and causing panic. After a tense wait, the captors decide to evacuate. The hostages pack their few belongings and are unshackled as they move through the tunnel, climb out into daylight, and traverse a devastated landscape under guard. After a dangerous aboveground journey, they descend once more into another tunnel, returning to darkness.
Chapter 6 Summary
Sharabi and the other hostages are led through a narrow, low tunnel into a new underground site that is worse than the previous one. The air is humid, the floor is packed dirt, and the living area is cramped, disorganized, and apparently abandoned in haste. The tunnel has no electricity and no running water, and the captors react with anger as they begin sorting the scattered supplies. Alon arrives last and reports that, during the aboveground move, they entered ruined houses to scavenge food, medicine, water, and blankets and saw IDF evacuation leaflets, explaining the silence outside.
In the dark, the hostages quietly gather small items they can use and discover a full bottle of orange Fanta. They drink it quickly and secretly, then hide the evidence. The Circle soon demands to know where it is, accusing them of lying, but they deny everything and point to the Mask as corroboration that they only asked for water. With no proof, the Circle drops the matter, and the hostages treat the stolen drink as a small victory.
Conditions deteriorate. For days they eat only biscuits and water. Later they receive raw ful beans, then stale pitas after nearly two weeks, along with a small amount of cream cheese. Supplies remain sporadic because deliveries are rare and most items must be scavenged aboveground. Hunger affects everyone, including the captors, and scarcity makes them more irritable. Hygiene collapses: They lack mattresses, toothpaste, toilet paper, soap, and clean water. They shower infrequently with a bucket, reuse water for washing, and cope with worsening filth. Illness spreads among the hostages—diarrhea, vomiting, fungal infections, nails falling off—while Sharabi suffers dizziness from weakness.
The toilet cesspit stops draining, sewage rises, and the stench becomes constant. Worms appear in the damp areas and even on toothbrushes. The hostages warn their captors, who respond because keeping the hostages alive is necessary for leverage. The men adapt to the infestation and increasingly fight among themselves over shrinking resources, sleep, and personal habits. Sharabi repeatedly tries to manage fair allocation and maintain cohesion, while also recognizing his own bluntness and the strain of constant proximity.
Sharabi and Alon deepen their bond through quiet conversation. Sharabi describes his daughters, Noiya and Yahel, and insists they will survive and return home. After Sharabi blurts an insult about Arabs, the captors punish all four by withholding reheated pitas, worsening tensions. Ramadan reverses the captors’ routines, disrupting sleep further. The hostages begin exercising in secret to stay awake, preserve strength, and endure.
Chapters 4-6 Analysis
As Sharabi’s account moves beyond the initial shock of abduction, Chapters 4-6 show life in captivity, and the hostages settling into situations they must learn how to read. Survival depends on understanding a shifting set of rules: Who can speak, when someone can ask for food or use the bathroom, how eye contact might be interpreted, and which requests invite punishment. Routine offers no comfort here. Instead, it becomes a form of pressure that slowly reshapes their attention and behavior. What sustains the hostages is not optimism or inspiration, but constant vigilance—watching, recalibrating, and learning how to make it through the next hour without triggering alarm.
Sharabi uses the act of physical descent to capture how fear settles in. The tunnels are not just a setting; they mark a psychological threshold. He writes: “We climb down a long ladder, into the shaft. I’m scared. Every nightmare, every fear, every fevered thought climbs down with me, step by step, down the ladder” (37). The deeper Sharabi goes, the stronger his fears become. The measured pacing mirrors the ladder rungs, and the repetition gives his dread physical weight. The section shows how underground, perception changes: Time slows, breathing becomes audible, and fear becomes palpable. It signals to readers that captivity is not just one experience, but a set experiences, each with its own unique emotional burden.
Within this environment, bargaining is a daily reality. Shackles, food, water, and small freedoms are constantly negotiated, yet nothing granted is ever secure. What is allowed one day may be revoked the next. Sharabi’s blunt assessment—“We are bargaining chips. They need bargaining chips. And they need bargaining chips with a pulse” (65)—cuts through any illusion of goodwill. The hostages are kept alive not out of compassion, but because their survival has political value. Read alongside Sharabi’s careful restraint—knowing when to speak, when to stay silent, and when to comply—the line clarifies how control is maintained through daily management as much as violence.
These chapters also dwell on the tension between humiliation and dignity. Adaptation preserves life, but it comes at emotional and ethical cost. Sharabi is especially attentive to how easily survival behavior can be misunderstood by outsiders. He anticipates assumptions about closeness to captors and repeatedly draws firm boundaries between strategic cooperation and moral identification. This insistence reflects Testimony as an Ethical Obligation: Sharabi records what happens, but also works to prevent misreadings that flatten the complexity of captivity into false narratives about consent or “humanization.”
At the same time, relationships among the hostages take on practical shape. Roles emerge because they are necessary. Some calm others during panic. Some keep track of details. Some redirect attention toward the future when despair threatens to overwhelm the group. Sharabi’s leadership appears in these small, repeated actions—sharing scarce resources, choosing words carefully, and surviving minute by minute. In this context, Caretaking as Resistance is not sentimental. Care functions as a survival tool, helping the group stay focused, reducing conflict, and maintaining a sense of responsibility toward one another.
Sharabi also shows how small sensory moments briefly interrupt deprivation without offering escape. After stealing a bottle of Fanta, he reflects: “A small act of rebellion. A tiny, orange, sweet victory. Difficult days lie ahead” (61). The taste and color provide a fleeting reminder of normal life, a bright moment that restores the sense of self that captivity erodes. Yet the immediate turn toward foreboding prevents the moment from becoming celebratory. The pleasure is real, but fragile, a foreshadowing of dangers to come.
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