‘I vowed to speak for those who can’t’: Ex-hostage urges Israel, US to push for deal
‘Hamas didn’t release us out of goodwill, they responded to pressure,’ says Tal Shoham; adds new IDF offensive is ‘not the way forward,’ only puts captives at greater risk
In a piece published in Time Magazine on Friday, freed hostage Tal Shoham detailed his abduction and captivity in the hands of Hamas terrorists in the tunnels under Gaza, and made a plea to both US President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to urgently reach a deal to get the remaining Gaza hostages home.
In the article, Shoham explained that he was held for most of his time as a hostage with Evyatar David and Guy Gilboa-Dalal, who were both kidnapped from the Nova music festival during the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack, and who remain in captivity.
Shoham, who was kidnapped from his wife’s family home in Kibbutz Be’eri, was freed in February during the latest ceasefire-hostage deal, after over 500 days in captivity. That ceasefire has since collapsed, with Israel resuming fighting in the Strip.
His wife, two children and three other family members were also kidnapped on October 7, 2023, and were freed in November 2023.
His parents-in-law were among the approximately 1,200 people murdered by Hamas-led terrorists during the onslaught.
“We were held together along with Omer Wenkert for eight and a half months in a Hamas tunnel — just 40 feet long, less than 3 feet wide,” he wrote.
“We slept on soaked mattresses, shared a single pita a day, and took turns whispering stories from home to keep ourselves sane,” Shoham wrote.
“A bomb was planted above us, rigged to detonate if Israeli forces came too close,” he explained, saying that “We were told we would be blown up if anyone tried to save us. We were threatened, degraded, and at times tortured — not treated as people, but as objects to be controlled and broken.”
Wenkert was also released during the recent truce.
“We were strangers when we entered that darkness,” Shoham said. “But we became brothers.”
“I haven’t been back above ground for that long — but even now, every breath of fresh air, every step in the sun, every quiet moment with my family feels like something sacred,” he added. “Time feels different now. I carry it more carefully. Because I know how quickly time can run out — and how brutal each passing day is for those still living in captivity.”
“The men who held us didn’t see us as human. They tortured us for fun,” he said. “Sometimes they would light pieces of paper on fire to suck up the small amount of oxygen from the tunnel. We would choke and have to lie on the floor to avoid suffocating.”
Shoham wrote that “When I walked out of that tunnel in February, I made a vow: I would speak for those who can’t.”
He has since been featured in a number of articles, has given several interviews, appeared in meetings with US President Donald Trump and gave a speech about his captivity to the United Nations, consistently advocating for the release of the remaining hostages and detailing the horrors of Hamas captivity.
“Hamas didn’t release us out of goodwill,” Shoham wrote. “They responded to pressure — the kind that comes from international focus and relentless advocacy.”
Addressing Trump, Shoham said, “I am asking you to do that again, to bring every hostage home — both the living and the dead.”
Referencing Israel’s new plans to expand the fight against Hamas in Gaza, Shoham said that this was “not the way forward.”
“Every step deeper into this war feels like a step further away from Evyatar and Guy — and the chance to bring them home alive,” he said. “We can’t let military momentum override moral clarity.”
Finally, addressing both Netanyahu and Trump, Shoham pleaded with the leaders to make the release of the last 59 Gaza hostages their priority.
“Please — bring them home too. Let them breathe again,” he said.
Terror groups in the Gaza Strip are holding 59 hostages, including 58 of the 251 abducted by Hamas-led terrorists on October 7, 2023. They include the bodies of at least 35 confirmed dead by the Israel Defense Forces.
It is currently believed that 21 of the 59 hostages are alive. The fate of three hostages — IDF soldier Tamir Nimordi, Bipin Joshi of Nepal, and Pinta Nattpong of Thailand — is in doubt because no signs of life have been received from them since the war broke out.
The Times of Israel Community.