  Neutron star binaries offer a rich phenomenology in terms of gravitational
waves and merger remnants. However, most general relativistic studies have been
performed for nearly circular binaries, with the exception of head-on
collisions. We present the first numerical relativity investigation of mergers
of eccentric equal-mass neutron-star binaries that probes the regime between
head-on and circular. In addition to gravitational waves generated by the
orbital motion, we find that the signal also contains a strong component due to
stellar oscillations (f-modes) induced by tidal forces, extending a classical
result for Newtonian binaries. The merger can lead to rather massive disks on
the order of 10% of the total initial mass.
