Israeli Man Omer Shem-Tov, Kidnapped by Hamas for 505 Days, Talks About his Time in Captivity and How he Survived

NEW YORK — A 23-year-old Israeli man, who was held captive for more than 500 days after the 2023 deadly terror attack by Hamas, is recounting his experience of captivity and survival.

Following his release, Omer Shem-Tov has had the opportunity to throw the first pitch at Fenway Park in Boston and meet President Donald Trump. However, despite being free, Shem-Tov is easily triggered back to his harrowing past.

“Everything feels so surreal,” he expressed. “I might be sitting on the beach under the sun’s warmth, and in an instant, I am transported back in time, remembering how grateful I am to be back home.”

It’s been nearly three months since the 23-year-old was released, after 505 days of Hamas captivity.

Finally, he was reunited with his family after nearly a year and a half. Much of his time in captivity was spent in isolation in a tiny, pitch-black terror tunnel beneath the Gaza Strip.

“Starvation, it’s an awful thing,” Shem-Tov said. “Seeing my bones, my shoulder bones, my rib cage, I can feel it. Eating a biscuit a day, calculating how to eat it throughout the day. Not a lot of people can imagine what true darkness is. If you’re in a dark room you move your hand, you see shadows moving. I did not see those shadows. There were times I thought I went blind.”

Early in the morning on October 7, as he danced with his friends in the desert, Hamas massacred hundreds at the Nova Music Festival, and abducted 44 people, including Shem-Tov.

His parents, Malki and Shelley, were among the founders of the Hostage and Families Forum, now a global advocacy group supported by New York-based UJA Federation. That’s where the family told their story Tuesday night.

All of this comes as yet another attempt at peace fell through. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu doubled down on Wednesday, vowing to maintain the Israeli onslaught until all of Gaza is under Israeli control. But Hamas holds 58 hostages and won’t return them unless the war ends.

“This is something that we cannot understand,” said Omer’s father Matt Malki Shem-Tov. “How come lives of people become political?”

Omer Shem-Tov was the last of 33 hostages released during the short-lived ceasefire earlier this year.

He’s hungry no more, and no longer in the dark, but what he can’t shake is the guilt that he’s free and others are not.

“It’s this feeling of guilt, this feeling of guilt it will not let you go,” he said. “All I want is for people to really unite and come together and to help us finish this hell and retrieve all the hostages back home.”