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For 505 days, Tal Shoham lived in darkness, isolation and extreme deprivation, held captive by Hamas in Gaza’s underground tunnel network. Now, in his first interview since being freed, he is revealing the physical and psychological torment he endured—alongside his refusal to break.
Shoham, 40, was kidnapped from Kibbutz Be’eri on October 7, when Hamas launched a deadly assault on Israeli communities near the Gaza border. He was dragged from his car by armed terrorists, paraded through crowds in Gaza, and ultimately confined to a small underground cell with three other hostages.
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Former hostage Tal Shoham shares his account from captivity
(Video: Fox News)
“I refused to kneel,” he said. “I told them, whether in Hebrew or Arabic, I don’t even remember—I will not go down on my knees. They could kill me, but it would be on my terms.”
After being seized, Shoham was forced through Gaza’s streets, where civilians surrounded him. Some threw objects, while others beat him with sticks.
“The crowd was in a frenzy,” he said. “They screamed, ‘Zionist pig!’ and called me a soldier, even though I wasn’t.”
Shoham refused to show fear. “I just waved and smiled. I thought, ‘You caught me, but you won’t see fear in my eyes.’”
He was then moved between several locations before being taken to a 5.5-square-meter underground room, where he was held with three other hostages. The cell had no light and very little air.
Life in captivity: starvation and isolation
For the first 34 days, Shoham was held alone, bound, in a private home in Gaza. He received just a few spoonfuls of avocado, three dates, or half an orange each day.
But hunger was not the worst part—uncertainty about his family’s fate was. “I had to assume they were all dead,” he said. “I sat on the floor and imagined their funeral—one large grave for my wife, two smaller ones for my children. I gave a eulogy in my head, thanking them for the time we had together.”
Later, he was transferred to a Hamas tunnel, where conditions worsened. He was given just 300 milliliters of water a day—barely enough to drink, let alone wash. Meals consisted only of rice, and captors often withheld food as punishment.
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“After weeks without real food, my body started to shut down,” he said. “I lost 29 kilograms. My leg became severely infected, turning blue, yellow, and purple due to internal bleeding.”
Medical care was almost nonexistent, though Hamas gave the hostages blood thinners to prevent deadly clots from forming due to prolonged inactivity. Later, they received a week’s worth of vitamin supplements. “It tasted like dog food,” Shoham said. “But it kept us alive.”
Torture and psychological abuse
Shoham and his fellow hostages were subjected to routine beatings. At times, their guards forced them to crawl like dogs, laughing as they struck them.
“One of them would scream at us, calling us ‘filthy Jews’ while hitting us, and then 10 minutes later, he’d smile and hand us food,” Shoham recalled.
Throughout it all, he remained defiant. “I refused to give them what they wanted. I wouldn’t break.”
On the 50th day, Shoham was handed a note from his wife, confirming that she and their children had survived and been freed.
“My hands were shaking as I read it,” he said. “That was the most important moment. My family was safe. I no longer had to worry about protecting them. Now, I could focus on my own fight to survive.”
'That's dew'
After nearly 18 months underground, Shoham was blindfolded and led outside as part of a November 2023 hostage deal. As he stepped forward, he suddenly felt something wet on his face. “Is that rain?” he asked.
One of his Hamas captors laughed. “No,” he said. “That’s dew.” Shoham ignored the taunt. “At that moment, I didn’t care,” he said. “I was going home.”
Shoham was taken to an Israeli military base, where he reunited with his wife and children. “It felt like a dream,” he said. “Even now, it still doesn’t feel real.”
But joy quickly turned to grief. Shoham learned that 11 of his relatives had been killed or kidnapped on October 7. Some had been released, while others had not survived.
Despite his losses, Shoham held onto one thing Hamas could not take from him—his humanity.
“Between us, the Jewish hostages, there was respect, dignity, and purity,” he said. “Hamas tried to strip us of our humanity, to force their cruelty onto us. But in our space, we refused to let them win. “And that was the key to making it out whole.”