Ex-hostage: ‘Gazans hate us, no hope for peace with Israel’

After 16 months of brutal captivity in Gaza, Tal Shoham says coexistence with Palestinians “won’t be possible” in his lifetime.

By World Israel News Staff

A former Israeli hostage held captive by Hamas terrorists for more than 16 months has spoken publicly about his ordeal and how it changed his view of coexistence with Palestinians.

Tal Shoham, 40, was kidnapped from Kibbutz Be’eri on October 7, 2023, along with his wife, two children, and mother-in-law.

His father-in-law was murdered by invading terrorists. Shoham’s wife, children, and mother-in-law were freed in a late 2023 hostage deal, but he remained in Hamas captivity until February 2025.

In an interview with Reuters ahead of the second anniversary of the October 7 massacre — the bloodiest day in Israeli history — Shoham said his views on peace between Israelis and Palestinians had been shattered by what he endured.

“I believed that peace is something that we can achieve. But after I saw the magnitude of hatred that they grew up upon and they are raising their children upon, it’s really clear that at least in our generation it won’t be possible,” he told Reuters.

Shoham described being dragged out of the window of a bomb shelter to a waiting vehicle. As he was kidnapped from his home, he saw the dead bodies of fellow kibbutz residents — two of whom he personally knew.

In Gaza, he was held in an underground tunnel alongside three other hostages — Guy Gilboa-Dalal, Evyatar David, and Omer Wenkert.

He described the dark, cramped cell as a “tomb,” with nothing but thin mattresses on a sand floor and a hole for a toilet.

“We were treated like animals. I mean, even animals won’t be kept in such inhumane conditions, but this is the way they treated us,” Shoham recalled.

Shoham said his captors regularly beat the hostages and subjected them to psychological torture, including telling the captives to choose one among them to be executed.