An Israeli citizen who was held hostage in Gaza said many of his captors were not Hamas soldiers, but Palestinian civilians.
Tal Shoham, whose son was just released on Monday as part of a peace agreement between Israel and Hamas, told reporters about what he endured as a hostage until he was released in February. He expressed gratitude toward President Donald Trump for brokering the deal that led to his son’s release. “I wanted to shake his hand and thank him — not only for this deal but for the deal that released me,” he told The Times of Israel.
Shoham and his son were abducted by Hamas terrorists during a surprise attack on October 7, 2023. His wife, two young children, and other relatives were also taken during the violence. Hamas released the women and children in November 2023.
The father said he was “intentionally starved … for sadistic psychological warfare” in an effort to “make us suffer” and “to pressure Israeli society.”
He confirmed that the terrorists bragged about stealing humanitarian aid meant for Palestinian civilians, an issue that many news outlets reported. “I saw with my own eyes that they stole boxes and boxes and boxes of humanitarian aid from Egypt, from Turkey, from the Emirates, but they didn’t agree to give us any of this food in the tunnels,” he recalled.
Shoham explained that he endured “a lot of torture and cruelty” during his captivity.
The living Israeli hostages held in Gaza have been freed under the first phase of Donald Trump's peace plan, alongside a Palestinian prisoner release. The deal may become a signature achievement of Trump's second term, and it could mark a strategic turning point for the Middle… pic.twitter.com/0bZDABIDGj
— TIME (@TIME) October 13, 2025
His recollection of his captors was particularly noteworthy. He described them as “religious” but noted that some of them “were only there because this is the popular thing to do.”
He did note that some of his captors showed some empathy, smuggling food and giving him a message from his wife.
Most of those who watched over the hostages were “not soldiers,” according to Shoham. He noted that one of his guards “was a first-grade teacher, another was a lecturer at a university, and another was a doctor.”
He characterized them as “normal people becoming terrorists.”
Hamas-controlled schools in the Gaza Strip have been known for indoctrinating children into extremist views on Israel and the Jewish people. Their curriculum differs from what the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank teaches its children in that it glorifies jihad and romanticizes terrorism.
Lessons feature antisemitic tropes while celebrating Palestinian “martyrs” who have killed Israeli soldiers and civilians. They openly celebrate terrorists by having students recite poems about them for attacking civilians.
Teachers encourage students to view jihad as a personal religious duty and to aspire to emulate terrorists. They are taught that Jews “control the world” while oppressing Palestinians. Their sports camps and youth centers are frequently named after prominent terrorist leaders.
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