'Made us kneel like dogs and beat us' - Former Israeli hostage Tal Shoham describes Hamas captivity

Former Israeli hostage Tal Shoham spent 505 days in Hamas captivity and was released on Feb. 22. He gave his first interview since returning from Gaza last month in a conversation with Fox News, where he reportedly addressed Hamas terrorists, saying: "If you want to kill me, kill me, but you will not execute me like ISIS.”

Shoham and his wife and children lived on a moshav in northern Israel but were visiting his wife’s parents at Kibbutz Be’eri in the Gaza Envelope when they were all taken hostage by Hamas terrorists on Oct. 7, 2023.

Recalling the moment when one of the terrorists forced him out of his car at gunpoint, he said, "I raised my hands, but I refused to kneel." 

He continued, emphasizing his resilience, "I am not a victim. Even if this ends, I will end it with my head high, looking death in the eyes. They won’t break me, and I will not surrender to self-pity. We are stronger than the other side."

As Shoham described the moment when he was taken hostage by Hamas, he mentioned that Gazans recorded him on their phones.

Shoham spent his first month in captivity in a family home, enduring torture and severe deprivation, like many other hostages. He lost 64 pounds and described the uncertainty about his family’s fate as the worst form of torment, adding that isolation was “worse than the hunger.”

On Day 34, hostages Evyatar David and Guy Gilboa-Dalal were brought to the house, but their captors forbade them from speaking. Shoham called them his “brothers” and admitted he struggles to sleep at night, knowing the horrific conditions they still face.

Shoham revealed that Hamas transported the trio to a tunnel using an ambulance, which they used to move hostages. This is where he met Omer Wenkert, who was released on the same day.

In the tunnel, the three hostages encountered an “extremely violent” guard. Shoham said the guard, “made some of us kneel like dogs and beat us. He could come in screaming that we were filthy Jews, hit us, and then 10 minutes later, he would smile and bring us food.”

On the day of Shoham’s release, Hamas forced David and Gilboa-Dalal to witness other hostages being freed, later sharing this act of cruelty in a video of the moment on their Telegram channel. The footage, approved for distribution by the hostages’ families, shows the two sitting in the back of a vehicle near the stage where Omer Shem Tov, Omer Wenkert and Eliya Cohen were released.

Shoham was freed in Rafah alongside Avera Mengistu – who was held in Gaza for 11 years – and was forced to give a speech on Hamas’ makeshift stage before being handed over to the Red Cross to be united with his family.

Shoham was reunited with his wife and children after 16 months in Gaza. He was discharged from Rabin Medical Center five days later.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with Shoham a week or so after his release. They spoke for two hours, where Shoham detailed his own time in captivity and discussed the plight of his two friends, David and Gilboa-Dalal.