Hamas threatened to kill hostage in call to his freed wife

(JNS) — Tal Shoham, who was freed from Gaza as part of the hostage deal with Hamas on Feb. 22, revealed that the terrorists had called his wife, freed during previous ceasefire, and threatened to kill him if she talked about her own experiences in captivity.

Adi Shoham was taken hostage during the Oct. 7, 2023, massacre alongside her two young children. They were released after 50 days in captivity as part of the first ceasefire agreement with the terrorist group.

Tal Shoham, a 40-year-old Israeli with dual Austrian citizenship, was abducted from Kibbutz Be’eri on Oct. 7 while visiting his wife’s extended family for the Simchat Torah holiday. Shoham’s in-laws were among the approximately 1,200 people murdered that day.

Speaking with the Associated Press, Shoham said that after his wife was freed, an individual identifying himself as a member of Hamas called to warn her not to talk about what she’d been through.

If she did, the terrorist said, her husband would be murdered, Shoham told the AP, adding that there are still details of his captivity he cannot discuss due to fear of endangering the remaining 59 hostages.

Upon entering the Strip, a Palestinian terrorist jumped on top of the car, pointed his gun at Shoham with “murder in his eyes” and ordered him to kneel, Shoham recalled. He refused, not wanting to be killed on their terms, he said.

Shoham said he spent half his captivity in Gaza apartments and the rest in tunnels. He was sometimes bound, starved, beaten and threatened with murder, and initially didn’t know if his family had survived.

His Hamas captors transported him and other hostages by ambulance, he said. The Israeli hostages were blindfolded, cleanly shaven and dressed in clothes intended to make them blend in with locals.

Shoham learned his immediate family had survived the massacre some 50 days into his captivity, when Hamas gave him a letter written by his wife that told him she and their children would be released.

“When I can hear my children addressing us, like mother and father, mom and dad, saying both names, it’s like music to the ears,” he told the AP, adding: “As a family, we’re all in the process of recovery now.”

Fifty-nine abductees remain captive in Gaza, according to official Israel Defense Forces figures. At least 35 of them are believed to be deceased.