Exclusive: With burying 100 feet underground and without enough air and light to breathe, sharing just 6 feet x 3 feet of space with three other men, the recently released Tal Sham shared the story of the miserable survival of Fox News Digital.
Shoham was forced to take him from Kibbutzberg on October 7, 2023. His wife and children were invited to the day, ages 4 and 8, but he was unaware that he was thrown into the trunk of a car by Hamas terrorists and forced into Gaza. He didn't even know if his family was alive or not. Wanting to save them, he surrendered to the terrorists just before they set fire to the house where his family was hidden.
He spent eight and a half months in underground tunnels, raising him for another five months in five different homes deep in Gaza, where his prisoners bound him, starved him, and robbed him of basic human comfort.
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He is still hostage in Gaza as he sits next to his wife Adi, Tal Shoham is still holding posters of his two friends, Evayata David and Guy Gilboa Dalal. (Georges Schneider)
But he gave himself a mission. He decided not to lose his humanity. Even in the moments he was afraid of death, he tried to keep himself focused. “I am not a victim. Even if this is over, I will keep my head high and I will finish seeing death in the eyes. They will not break me, I will not surrender to my self-esteem. We are stronger than the other side,” he said.
It's been three weeks since he got home and he's ready to speak. Kibbutz be'eri is only 9 km (about 5 and a half miles) from Gaza, but its short distance is the ocean between the two worlds and what he describes. “A half hour drive, two independent worlds,” he said. “The first – incredibly surreal, cruel and cruel. And just 30 minutes away. [on this side of the border]a world of sanity, logic, dignity, and compassion. ”
He remembers all the details of his 505-day captivity. Tal wants to tell his story for two fellow prisoners who remain behind, starved, abused, and at risk of a certain death. “I emerged from the tunnel where I was embraced and was born again, just as someone was born from the womb,” he says. However, the men he calls his “brothers,” Eviyatar David and Guy Gilboa Dalal, are still under the custody underground. “I can't sleep at night knowing they're still there,” he says.
October 7, 2023
Israeli hostages Tar Shoham and Aver Mengäthu are adjacent to Palestinian Hamas terrorists who will be on stage when they were released on February 22 in Rafa, in the southern Gaza Strip. (Omar al-qattaa/afp via Getty Images)
Tal, his wife and children came to Kibbutzberg from north of Israel, spent their Simchat Torah holidays with his wife's parents and stayed at home when the terrorist attacks began. He says everyone has entered a safe room and as the sound of a shooting approaches, they try to barricade themselves inside. However, the terrorists opened the window and feared that if their families didn't surrender they might throw them with a hand-drawn bullet. On the same street, terrorists set fire to all other homes and burned the living people.
“I went out and raised my hand,” he said. “A man with murder led me to the road and the car, and I saw about 40 heavily armed terrorists. Some of them were filming me on their phones. I was in shock.
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Former Israeli hostage Tal Shoham stands in the destroyed home of Kibbutzberg's in-laws. (Georges Schneider)
The terrorists threw him into the trunk of the car and drove across the border to Gaza. There the crowd gathered. “The teenager with the stick ran towards me and tried to beat me from all sides,” he says. Taking him out of the car, his prisoner pointed him to a rifle, believing he was ready to execute him, and tried to force him to kneel. “I said, 'I can't control whether you'll kill me or not,' and I raised my hand. But I refused to kneel.
He then paraded the streets in what he described as a “victory march.” “They were screaming, 'Soldier! Pigs! Zionists!' A wooden club where mobs gathered and tried to attack me.
34 Days Quarantine
He was first taken to his family home, where he was restrained alone and always tied up for 34 days. He was allowed to shower regularly, but otherwise his capacity to raise was severe.
His food was strictly distributed. “For the first three days I had pita bread. Then they stopped giving it to me,” he says. “Food supply has declined. One day I received a spoon of avocado and three dates, or an orange half from a tree in my garden.”
But the worst of his suffering didn't know whether his family was alive or not. “I am 40. I have never experienced this kind of pain in my life. Isolation is being alone with merciless thoughts.
To endure, he made a heartbreaking decision. “We had to accept that our family had died,” Tal says. “I sat on the floor, imagined myself at their funeral. I was standing in front of the grave – one for my wife, two little tiny for my children – and I praised each of them.
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Tar Shoham stands in the burnt-out house of Kibbutz Beeri. (Georges Schneider)
505 days in hell
On the 34th day of his prisoners, Eviyatar David and Guy Gilboa Dalal were brought home. The Hamas terrorists tortured them daily, hit them, and denied the food while eating in front of them. Hostages were only allowed to only about 300 calories per day – Shoham's weight fell from 174 pounds to 110 pounds when he was released – and was prohibited from speaking. “We couldn't move out of bed or talk to each other. We whispered everything,” he said.
Then came a faint light of hope. On the 50th day of the prisoner, Tal received evidence of life from his wife. “I read it, my hands are shaking,” he said. “The most important thing happened – my family was safe. I didn't need to be a father and husband to protect them anymore. Now I was able to focus on war, war I knew how to fight.
Eviyatar David is still being held hostage in Gaza by Hamas terrorists. (Courtesy: Take it home now)
tunnel
By June 2024, Tal, Guy and Eviater had been moved to the ambulance Hamas used to carefully transport hostages, and to the underground tunnel where Omer Wenkart was already home to another prisoner of war. There were four mattresses on the floor and holes in the ground in the toilet. The space was lit by a single dim light bulb. “It took weeks to stop the walls closing and adapting to oxygen deprivation,” Tal says.
They were given only 300 ml of water a day – just over 10 ounces. They were able to use it to drink and wash their hands. Rice was everything they had to eat. A few months have passed. They were beat-beat-bearing, monitored by cameras, and randomly robbed of food and sleep. The guards were a bargain in the Hamas Tunnel – they dug every day, even if the war was fierce at the top. “Hamas didn't stop digging the tunnel,” says Taru. “It's not a day.”
The condition was so bad that both he and Eviyatar developed a severe infection. However, it will take several months for the doctors to come to see them. “My legs turned blue, yellow and purple due to internal bleeding,” he recalls. “They gave me all the blood thinners, fearing they would develop blood clots from the long-term immobilization. In the end, they realized that the problem was malnourishing and provided me with vitamin supplements for seven days.
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Guy Gilboa-Dalal is still being held in Gaza by Hamas terrorists. (Courtesy: Take it home now)
But the abuse continued. New security guards arrived, even more violent than the previous security guards. “He made some of us kneel like dogs and beat us,” he says. “He came screaming that we were filthy Jews and hit us, and after ten minutes he would smile and bring food.”
And then there was something that seemed like a miracle. Tall and Omar were appointed in February as part of a hostage release deal. He felt the moisture in his face as he went outside underground for months when he was still blindfolded. “Is it raining?” he asked. “No,” replied his prisoner, “It's dew.” And I realized that my name, Tal, was “dew” in Hebrew.
Humiliation sometimes came before he was handed over to the Red Cross and returned to Israel. In a procession on the stage in the heart of Rafa, he is forced to repeat Hamas propaganda. But he said he didn't care – he was home. When he arrived in Israel he was taken to Leoim Base, where his wife Adi and their two children, Nave and Yaher, were waiting for him. “It was a dream come true, but it still felt like a dream,” says Tal. “It took me a few days to fully grasp that it was real, and it was hard to incorporate. The emotions flooded me.
And then there was tragic news to absorb. Eleven members of Tull's family were invited or killed on October 7th. Adi's father, Avshalom Haran, and two uncles, Lilach and Eviyatar Kipnis, were killed. His mother-in-law, Shoshan Haran, was taken alongside two other relatives (Sharon Abigdri and her daughter, Noam Abigdri). Two other relatives from the United States to celebrate their birthday, Judith Laanan, 59, and her 17-year-old daughter, Natalie, were also invited by Kibutz Nahal Oz.
Tar Shoham reunited with his family, some of whom were taken prisoner on October 7th. (IDF)
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And there was joy. During his prisoners, four new babies were born to the family. “In us there was Jewish hostages, purity,” he said. “There was dignity. Terrorists brought about any fear, any cruelty and pain, imposed inhumanity upon us. But in our space, we preserved our inner cleanliness, our humanity amongst each other.
