Slain Israeli hostage Almog Sarusi memorialized by best friend in Florida: "He was so close to coming home"
MIAMI — Almog Sarusi was one of the six hostages whose bodies were recovered by the Israeli military, all of whom were captured after Hamas' Oct. 7 attack at the Nova musical festival that ignited the latest chapter of the war in Gaza.
Sarusi was at the music festival with Shahar Gindi, his girlfriend of five years who was killed in the attack. The Hostage Families Forum described Sarusi as a "vibrant, positive person who loved traveling around Israel in his white jeep with his guitar."
Sarusi had ties to South Florida, and his best friend there is now speaking out about how she wants him to be remembered.
Ella Schafman attended Hebrew Academy in Miami Beach until she moved back to Israel with her family. On vacation in Nepal, she met Sarusi. She said she and her companions were immediately drawn to him. He was a student at the time, studying water engineering. They became a close-knit group of friends that did everything together.
"Every person felt like (Sarusi) was his best friend. And it was for real, like he looked in your eyes and you felt that he cares about you and like he really wants to make the best for you," Schafman said.
Sarusi and Gindi started dating, and in early October, they told Schaffman they had fun plans to attend the Nova music festival.
"Talking about it, they were saying how they waited to go there because it's, like, such an amazing party, where you can be yourself and dance to the music without, like, thinking so much," Schafman said.
On Oct. 7, Hamas terrorists attacked the music festival. As Gindi and Sarusi were trying to escape, Gindi was shot.
"Shahar got injured and he stayed with her and tried to take care of her," Schaffman said.
Gindi did not survive her injuries, and Schafman said for weeks no one knew what happened to Sarusi. At first the family was informed that he had died, but later they learned Hamas had taken him hostage.
"We were praying for him to come home, and you know we didn't even know if he was alive. And then knowing he was alive, and he survived all this time, and he was so close to coming home. I mean, the army was almost there," Schaffman said.
On Saturday, 329 days after the attack, the Israel Defense Forces announced they had located six hostages shot in a tunnel underneath Rafah.
"I can't even start to think about how the families feel after trying so hard to get Almog back home and fighting so hard and praying and keeping their hopes up," Schafman said.
As the one-year mark since the music festival attack approaches, Schafman wants people to remember Gindi and Sarusi, and remember that there are still others just like them, still being held hostage.
"There are still hostages there that need to be saved, and hopefully they will not have the same ending as those six, because they deserve better," she said.