Freed hostage fears time may be running out for those still captive

Israeli Tal Shoham feared the 'many ways to die' while in captivity in Gaza, but he kept hope alive, as Sam Mednick, of the Associated Press reports

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WHETHER the threat was abusive Hamas guards, hunger, illness or Israeli strikes, there were moments during Tal Shoham's 505 days of captivity in Gaza when he didn't think he'd be alive the next morning.

There were “many times that I separated from life and ... tried to accept death,” the 40-year-old Israeli, who also holds Austrian citizenship, told the Associated Press. “There are so many ways to die there.”

Mr Shoham was one of dozens of hostages released from Gaza in February as part of a ceasefire agreement between Hamas and Israel that has since been broken.

His wife, two children and three other family members were also kidnapped on October 7, 2023, and were freed a month later.

Mr Shoham said he spent half his captivity in apartments and the rest in underground tunnels. He was sometimes bound, starved, beaten and threatened with death, and initially he didn’t know if his family was alive.

After his wife was released, Mr Shoham said, someone identifying himself as a member of Hamas called to warn her not to talk about what she'd been through or they'd kill her husband. So as he recounted his own experience, Mr Shoham said there were details he wouldn't discuss, fearful of endangering remaining hostages.

With ceasefire talks at a standstill, Israel is vowing to advance deeper into Gaza until Hamas releases the 59 hostages still there, more than half of whom are believed to be dead.

The resumption of fighting has inflamed debate in Israel over the course of the war and the hostages’ fate. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has come under mounting domestic pressure for his handling of the hostage crisis. But he also faces demands from his hard-line allies not to accept any deal that falls short of Hamas’ destruction.