‘I am Omer Shem Tov and I am free!’: Released hostage takes down banner calling for his release

Released hostages Omer Shem Tov takes down a banner calling for his release that has been displayed in his hometown of Herzliya since his abduction from the Nova music festival on October 7, 2023.

Shem Tov, who was released on February 22, after 505 days in captivity, is joined at the ceremony by siblings Maya and Itay Regev, who were freed from captivity during a weeklong truce in November 2023 and whose names are emblazoned on the banner alongside his.

“The last time I stood on a stage was the Hamas stage, so forgive me if I’m excited about this occasion,” Shem Tov says with a broad smile, to laughter from the crowd gathered around him at the so-called “Dancers Roundabout” in Herzliya.

“If anyone wants a kiss on the head, they can come over here,” he adds, referring to the moment in his release when he was directed to kiss two of the masked Hamas gunmen on the top of their heads.

עומר שם טוב בהצהרה: "אני חופשי, לרגע לא איבדתי תקווה. עכשיו אני פה בשביל מי שנשארו מאחור – חייבים להחזיר את כולם"https://t.co/DXAo11pmXn@danzilb pic.twitter.com/oCUAPGWs8f

— חדשות 13 (@newsisrael13) March 13, 2025

His mother takes him up on the offer, and he kisses her forehead.

“I am Omer Shev Tov, and I am free!” he says to applause.

Israeli civilian hostage Omer Shem Tov, center, wearing an approximation of an IDF uniform, is flanked by armed Hamas fighters before being handed over to the Red Cross in a propaganda ceremony in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip, February 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

As the mood turns serious, he says: “I was abducted on October 7 and held hostage for 505 days.

“I didn’t lose hope for a moment,” he says. “I always believed that I would come home, even though there were difficult moments.

He says that after Itay Regev was released on November 29, 2023, his captors transferred him to a 40-meter tunnel where he was held alone, “with little food and no light,” for 50 days.

On the 50th day in the pitch-black tunnel, Shem Tov says he “prayed to God to get me out of there, because I couldn’t take it anymore.”

“After five minutes, my captor arrived, and told me I was being moved to a different tunnel,” he says.

He says that while alone in captivity, he would “imagine laying my head on my mother’s lap. I imagined us sitting in the living room watching a movie.”

“The daydream became a reality,” he says.