Former hostage Tal Shoham told Israeli Army Radio on Wednesday that Hamas systematically stole humanitarian aid while Israeli captives were subjected to deliberate starvation.
“In the room next to us, the guards had food for months ahead that they stole from humanitarian aid. They said they received orders from above to starve us,” Shoham said.
In July, the IDF Arabic spokesperson released video evidence showing Hamas operatives living comfortably underground, consuming fresh bananas, dates, and meat in tunnel complexes, even as the organization publicly accused Israel of causing starvation in Gaza.
By contrast, Shoham described the horrific conditions he and other hostages endured. “It was a continuous nightmare. There was no oxygen to breathe, and we felt extreme and ongoing hunger. I saw the pictures of Rom [Brasklavski] and Evyatar [David], they look like walking skeletons, it reminded me of the Holocaust pictures,” he added.
Shoham’s weight dropped from 174 pounds to 110 pounds by the time of his release in February during a ceasefire. He previously told Fox News that hostages were limited to just 300 calories a day and 300 milliliters of water—slightly more than 10 ounces—which they had to decide whether to use for drinking or washing.
Shoham’s wife, Adi, was freed along with their two children in the first hostage-ceasefire deal in November 2023.
On Wednesday, he emphasized the psychological impact of knowing that support continued from the outside world. “Every time I heard in captivity that they were still fighting for us, and we weren’t forgotten, I received hope.”
In April, Shoham told dozens of foreign ambassadors at the United Nations office in Vienna about his ordeal at the hands of Hamas terrorists amid starvation and extreme thirst.
“There were days when we received only a single pita. We begged our captors, even offering them massages. We pleaded for every crumb and collected each one,” he said. Meanwhile, his captors “always had abundant food, including fresh vegetables and fruits.”
A version of this article was originally published in Israel Hayom.
