A former hostage of Hamas, Austrian-Israeli citizen Tal Shoham, has described recently released videos purporting to show Israeli captives as “deliberate propaganda”. Having endured 505 days in Hamas captivity, Shoham made the comments in an interview with ARD Tagestheuen on Sunday.
His remarks centered on the condition of Evyatar David, a fellow hostage. Shoham expressed deep concern for David’s health, stating that it appeared he was being deliberately starved. “I don’t believe there’s much hope left” Shoham said, referring to David’s apparent declining health.
Shoham identified the tunnel depicted in the videos as the very one where he and David were held for eight months. He asserted that just beyond the iron doors closing off the tunnel, Hamas operatives were in possession of abundant food supplies, including meat, fish and bread. He emphasized the daily struggle to maintain strength during his own captivity, drawing on both internal resilience and the support of a makeshift family formed amongst the hostages.
Regarding the motives behind the release of the video featuring Evyatar David, Shoham accused Hamas of aiming to portray the hostages in a deliberately negative light and to draw comparisons with the humanitarian situation in Gaza. He also claimed to have witnessed numerous shipments of humanitarian aid diverted from the public and Gaza residents, with the supplies being retained by Hamas.
Finally, Shoham voiced opposition to European pressure for the recognition of a Palestinian state, stating that it would benefit Hamas and represents a detrimental course of action for Europe at this time.
