“They starved me to the extreme. I lost 27 kilograms in captivity. They tortured us in various ways. They beat us physically and played psychological games, lying about our families. They often turned off the lights in the tunnel, and without any outside light, it was so dark that we couldn’t see our own hands in front of our faces. We had to endure 12, 13, 15 hours in such darkness,” said Tal Shoham, who was taken hostage by Hamas, in an interview with the media outlet Planet TV. They also captured his wife, two small children, and mother-in-law.
At the beginning of the interview for the show “Ura moči” (“The Hour of Power”), Tal Shoham admitted that it is not easy to relive those moments by telling his own story. “Every time, it’s like pouring salt on an open wound. But there are still about 20 hostages alive in Gaza – about 50 hostages in total. I feel I have to share my story and the truth about what is happening there. So that they will have the opportunity to return home to their families and so that this war will end,” he said clearly.
On the 7th of October 2023, when Hamas carried out its attack on Israel, Shoham was visiting his father-in-law and mother-in-law in the Be’eri kibbutz, about five kilometres from Gaza, with his wife and children. They were celebrating Simchat Torah, a Jewish holiday. “On the morning of the 7th of October, we were awakened by a Hamas rocket attack on Israel – without any warning, after a period of relative calm. We soon realised that this was not a ‘normal’ rocket attack, like the ones they had launched many times before,” he pointed out, adding that Hamas had then invaded Israel and the surrounding villages of Gaza, including the Be’eri kibutz.
“Finally, they entered my father-in-law and mother-in-law’s house. In those moments, we were fortunate in the decisions we made. Most of the people in the neighbourhood were killed that day, but because of our response, we were kidnapped,” he said, adding that the terrorists kidnapped his wife, his children, aged only eight and three, his mother-in-law, and two of his wife’s relatives. “They took them all separately to Gaza as hostages.”
When asked what was going through his mind when the terrorists broke into the house, he replied that he thought his life was about to end. Reports of massacres were already coming in from the kibbutz and surrounding areas. “They tried to blow up the metal door of the safe room, but they couldn’t open it. My eight-year-old son asked me in a trembling voice if we were going to die. I decided to answer him honestly with ‘I don’t know,'” he said, adding that he didn’t want the last thing his son heard from him to be a lie. But there wasn’t much time to think; they had to act instinctively and do everything in their power to protect their family. “In the end, they kidnapped us. I realised that they weren’t going to kill us in the kibbutz, as they had killed 102 other members of our kibbutz, including my father-in-law. He was also with us in the safe room.”
They drove them through the streets of Gaza
Then they put him in the trunk and drove him toward Gaza. From there, he could hear the crowd. “The residents were cheering the terrorists, banging on the car, they were excited. When we stopped, they pulled me out of the car. The terrorist who had dragged me out of my room in the Be’eri kibbutz jumped on the roof of the car, pointed a Kalashnikov at me, and ordered me to kneel down,” he recalled, adding that he could see a murderous look in his eyes. He says he instinctively knew that if he knelt down, he would be shot in the street. “I raised my hands, said I was surrendering, and begged him not to kill me. After half a minute or a minute, another terrorist grabbed me by the shoulders and we walked through the streets of Gaza,” he explained, recalling that a policeman on a motorcycle drove by. They decided to put him on the motorcycle and then drove him through the main streets of Gaza as if in a parade. “The crowd shouted that they had caught a ‘Jewish military pig’. I am Jewish, but I am not a soldier. I am 40 years old and I am a civilian. Everyone was shouting, they were excited, they tried to beat me up. It lasted at least half an hour,” he recalls.
First, they took him to a hideout. For several months, they moved him between such hiding places, along with Eviatar David and Guy Gilboa-Dalal, who had been kidnapped at the Nova festival. On the 13th of June, 2024, they were taken to the tunnels in a Red Crescent ambulance. When asked whether the terrorists were hiding behind women and children and even using hospitals, he explained that they were hiding them in apartments where women and children lived in close proximity. “They didn’t know we were there, but they were in the same building or house, sometimes above us or on the floor next door.” He emphasised that terrorists hide among the civilian population. “That is why there are other casualties during Israeli military attacks, because they deliberately and consciously hide their equipment, weapons, and people among civilians.”
He says he saw with his own eyes how they position themselves and use the residents of Gaza as human shields. “They even boasted that they use mosques and hospitals for logistics and operations.” When he was taken to the first hideout and kept in police handcuffs 24 hours a day for 34 days, the terrorists indifferently told him that all of the neighbours there would die, “but that’s okay because they’ll go to heaven.” “That’s how they think,” he said critically.
“When they took me to the tunnel, we walked for more than two hours in one direction,” he recalls. He does not know how long the tunnels are, but he says the terrorists told him they stretch from northern Gaza to Rafah in the south. “The tunnels are very narrow and deep underground, more than 20 meters,” he explained, saying that they, four hostages with four mattresses, were held in a small and narrow space. Inside, there was a hole in the ground that served as a toilet. Regarding the propaganda video in which one of his fellow captives had to dig his own grave, he said that it is important to understand that this is a terrorist organisation.
“Their goal is to cause terror. They deliberately and sadistically cause suffering, starving hostages as a form of psychological warfare.”
He lost 27 kilograms and developed scurvy
He lost 27 kilograms while in captivity. “I was released in February this year and have already gained 23 or 24 kilograms back.” He says that, fortunately, his body has recovered. But they starved him to the extreme. “Eviatar and I contracted scurvy, a deadly disease caused by severe vitamin C deficiency. In November 2024, we almost died in the tunnel.” He fears that Eviatar still suffers from this disease, as does Guy. They tortured them in various ways.
They caused them suffering, even though they were obedient
“They physically beat us and played psychological games, lying about our families because we had no information from the outside, no radio or television. Everything they told us was a lie,” he explained, recalling that once they set fire to the door and directed the smoke into the tunnel. “We almost suffocated. They fed us slop. Once they brought us uncooked pasta, forced us to eat it, and then in the middle of the day ordered us to go to sleep and not move.” Omer and Guy were forced to stand for hours with their eyes blindfolded and wearing a COVID mask. “They always found new ways to torture us and cause us suffering, even though we did nothing wrong. We were obedient the whole time.”
Regarding the reporting of many Western media outlets that label Hamas as a movement and terrorists as fighters, he expressed his belief that many countries and people around the world are falling for the lies of Hamas, Qatar, and Iran. “On the 7th of October, even before the Israeli army reached Israeli villages, Hamas had already launched a well-organised campaign accusing Israel of genocide in Gaza,” he said, adding that they had turned the world against Israel and its civilians in the media. “Unfortunately, they are very effective at this. But let me remind everyone: on the 6th of October, there was peace between Israel and Gaza. On the 7th of October, they carried out the most brutal attack on Israel since the Holocaust, killing more than a thousand civilians.”
They said repeatedly that their goal is to wipe out Israel
According to Shoham, Hamas does not hide its goals; they write and speak about them very clearly. “They have told us many times that their goal is to wipe out Israel and kill or expel every Jew from Israel. They are defined as a terrorist organisation all over the world, but because of the negative narrative about Israel, some call them ‘freedom fighters’.” According to him, on the 7th of October, Hamas took not only Israelis hostage, but also the entire Gaza Strip. More than two million Gazans are hostages under Hamas rule, he said, adding that if people really care about life in Gaza, they should put pressure on Qatar and other mediators – Turkey, Egypt – to bring Hamas back to the negotiating table and disarm them. “Only then will the people of Gaza have hope for democracy and a normal, good life,” he believes.
Until all the hostages are returned, complete recovery is not possible
When he emerged from the tunnel, he felt as if he had been given a new chance, almost as if he had been reborn. “The moment I hugged my family in Israel is one of the most beautiful and happiest moments of my life. Now I appreciate life and what we can do with it even more,” he emphasised. He says that his entire family still needs professional treatment. “Physically, it took me a few months to recover. Mentally and emotionally, it’s ongoing and comes in waves.” According to him, the wound is still open because his fellow hostages, Eviatar and Guy, are still being held captive by cruel terrorists who are worse than ISIS. “I won’t be able to truly recover until they return home to the embrace of their families.”
He and his wife have been threatened several times that they could be targeted even in Israel. “While the school system in Gaza promotes hatred, we were taught the values of peace and coexistence. But many who believed in peace were murdered on the 7th of October. Israel must do everything it can to protect the civilian population and ensure that such a terrorist attack never happens again,” he continued.
Hamas does not care about its own people
When asked how he views accusations that Israel is committing genocide, he repeated: “Even before the first missile or bullet was fired from Israel, Hamas had already launched its lie about genocide.” He says he saw with his own eyes how Hamas stole most of the humanitarian aid that Israel allowed into Gaza. “They even bragged about it when I was in the tunnels, saying that the terrorists had months of food and equipment underground.” According to him, the United Nations also published a report stating that 84 percent of the aid was stolen by Hamas and Islamic Jihad.
“Hamas, together with Iran and Qatar, is deceiving the whole world. Hamas is deliberately starving the population, stealing aid, and then selling it at extortionate prices to people who mostly cannot afford it.” That is why, according to him, we see scenes of starving children. “Their logic is that if they die, they will go to heaven. Hamas does not care about its own population. They worship death, not life. Only when Hamas withdraws from power in Gaza will people have hope for a better life, perhaps similar to that in other Arab countries,” he concluded.
Ž. N.
