Released Hostage Tal Shoham Says in 1st Interview He Refused to Kneel to Terrorists

Tal Shoham, held by Hamas terrorists until his return to Israel on February 22, publicly shared details of his 505 days in captivity for the first time, in an interview with Fox News.

Tal was taken hostage from Kibbutz Be’eri; he was with his family, who were visiting his in-laws in the kibbutz when the terrorists attacked

His wife, Adi, was also taken hostage, along with their two children Yahel, then 3, and Naveh, 8. The three were released during the short November 2023 ceasefire.

Tal says for the first 50 days he didn’t know if his wife and children were still alive; he had stepped outside alone to surrender to the terrorists, in hopes that the act would spare the lives of his loved ones.

He recalls being driven into Gaza, taken out of the truck he was carried in; he was told to kneel. At this point he thought he would be killed by the terrorists.

“I said ‘I can’t control whether you kill me or not,’ and I raised by hands — but I refused to kneel’,” he tells Fox, adding that he told his captors: “If you want to kill me, kill me, but you will not execute me like ISIS.”

During the 50 days of uncertainty, he says:
“Never in my life have I experienced suffering like this,” he says of that uncertainty. To survive, Shoham says he had to “accept that my family was dead.”
“I sat on the floor and imagined myself at their funeral. I stood in front of a grave — one large for my wife, and two small for my children — and I eulogized each of them,” he recalls. “I sobbed but didn’t let my captors see me cry. That was the hardest thing I’ve ever done, burying my family in my mind.”

Tal says he received a letter from his wife after 50 days telling him that she and the two children were alive.

Knowing that his family was safe was the “most important thing,” Shoham says. “I didn’t need to be a father and husband protecting them anymore. Now, I could focus on my war, the one I knew how to fight, the one for survival.”