Released hostage says he no longer has faith in peace as he reflects on Hamas torment

 When Tal Shoham walks through Kibbutz Be’eri in southern Israel, where he and his family were abducted by Hamas terrorists during the October 7, 2023, attack, he says it feels like a massive graveyard pervaded by the horror of that day’s events.

He is nostalgic about the old days before the attack and highly pessimistic about the future, despite US President Donald Trump’s pressure on Israel and Hamas to strike a deal under his plan to end the Gaza war.

The plan has stirred hopes around the region that the conflict may be coming to an end, two years after the Hamas onslaught on southern Israel that started it.

“All this neighborhood that once was so peaceful and beautiful, you know, all destroyed. It’s like the evil things that they did here, that the terrorists did here, is like covering everything here,” Shoham said.

Gunmen grabbed Shoham, his wife and their two children

Shoham spent 505 days in captivity in Gaza, a period he recalls for the cruelty of his Hamas captors and the resilience of fellow Israeli hostages still being held by the Palestinian terrorists. He was released during a truce in February this year.

He and his wife Adi and their two children were grabbed by Hamas terrorists, during the bloodiest single day for Jews since the Holocaust.

Hamas-led terrorists overwhelmed border defenses with a surprise assault, and dragged him and 250 other hostages back into Gaza in violence that shattered Israel’s image as an invincible military power.

The assault, in which about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, were murdered, triggered a massive military campaign that Hamas authorities claim has killed more than 67,000 Palestinians in Gaza.

The toll cannot be verified and does not differentiate between civilians and fighters, but Israel says it has killed over 22,000 combatants in battle as of August and another 1,600 terrorists inside Israel during the October 7 onslaught.

Israel has said it seeks to minimize civilian fatalities and stresses that Hamas uses Gaza’s civilians as human shields, fighting from civilian areas including homes, hospitals, schools and mosques.

Israel’s toll in the ground offensive against Hamas in Gaza and in military operations along the border with the Strip stands at 471. The toll includes two police officers and three Defense Ministry civilian contractors.

Anxiety despite Israel’s military victories

Shoham can see little prospect of long-term peace even after Israel mounted devastating attacks on Iran’s leadership and its regional allies Hamas, Lebanon’s Hezbollah, Yemen’s Houthis and armed groups in Syria.