Freed hostage who was in tunnel with Evyatar David: Behind that curtain are Hamas terrorists with cable TV, A/C, and plenty of stolen food

Released hostage Tal Shoham, who was held together with hostages Evyatar David and Guy Gilboa-Dalal before he was released in February, says he recognizes the Gaza tunnel in which David was filmed by Hamas in propaganda material released in the past two days.

“That is exactly the same tunnel where [released hostage] Omer [Wenkert], Evyatar, Guy and I were held,” he tells Channel 12.

Shoham, who was released with Wenkert in February, says he was “shocked to the depth of my soul” to see the condition that Evyatar is in now, as shown in the Hamas video footage. “He is broken mentally, emotionally. I can’t see any of the joy of life that he had managed to retain in his eyes now…. Really, a shell of the Evyatar I knew.”

Asked what the Hamas video doesn’t show, Shoham says that “behind the curtain they’ve put up, which is just one of the blankets we used, apparently Guy Gilboa-Dalal is standing or sitting because they don’t let them go to a different tunnel.”

“And right behind the cameraman, there’s an iron door, and a well-lit room, with air conditioners and a group of terrorists who sit and sleep there. They have cable TV. They have plenty of food — food they have stolen from the humanitarian supplies that Israel sent in for a very long time. We could see that they were well fed, that they lacked for nothing. They also bragged about having stolen it, that they had months of supplies in that tunnel and all their tunnels.”

Shoham says he lost 30 kilos during captivity. “We didn’t see that they lost even a kilo.”

In February, he notes, he, Wenkert, David, and Gilboa-Dalal were filmed for propaganda purposes being given plenty of food to eat, in a video that was taken shortly before he and Wenkert were freed. (David and Gilboa-Delal were taken to the ceremony at which Shoham and Wenkert were released, forced to watch it from a van parked near the stage, and filmed pleading for release.)

He notes that David was filmed in the latest video digging what he says he fears will be his own grave, obviously at the Hamas terrorist’s direction. “But I can see that he believes it. He really believes that [he and Guy] will end his life there.”

Shoham says he can see that David may not be able to hold on for many more days, and implores David and Giboa-Dalal: “Hold on… I want to believe that the government will do the right thing very soon — free you, do a deal.”

He also says he hopes pressure can be exerted on Hamas “to give you food, because there’s food meters away. Do everything you can to hold on,” he urges, “so that we can hug you both at home, God-willing, soon.”