Former Hamas Hostage Reveals Captors’ Fear After Trump’s Election Victory

Omer Shem Tov was enjoying a night of music and dancing with friends at Israel’s Nova Music Festival on October 7, 2023, when his life changed forever. Hamas terrorists launched a devastating attack that killed hundreds, and Shem Tov was among dozens of Israelis loaded onto pickup trucks bound for Gaza. He would spend the next 505 days in captivity.

In a recent interview with Fox News Digital, the 20-year-old Israeli recounted his harrowing experience as a captive forced to work as a slave in Hamas’ elaborate tunnel network beneath Gaza. His testimony provides a rare glimpse into the conditions of captivity and the impact of external political events on his treatment.

“I was digging for them, and I was cleaning for them, and I was moving around bombs from place to places, and carrying food,” Shem Tov explained. “I can tell you, just so you know, crazy amounts of food. Amounts of food that I’ve never seen before.”

Despite Hamas controlling vast food supplies, Shem Tov said he mostly survived on small biscuits throughout his captivity, highlighting the deliberate deprivation hostages faced while their captors maintained abundant resources.

During approximately the last five months of his captivity, Shem Tov lived in Hamas’ underground tunnel system. His captors had a television in the tunnels where they watched Al Jazeera. Though they generally prevented him from watching, he would occasionally overhear broadcasts, including news about the American presidential election.

“They wouldn’t let me watch TV, but sometimes I would overhear,” he said. “I overheard the terrorists discussing the election and how they want Kamala to win.”

The most striking revelation from Shem Tov’s account came regarding the aftermath of Donald Trump’s victory in the November 5, 2024, presidential election. “As soon as Trump was elected, I saw the fear in their eyes,” he recalled. “They knew that everything on ground is gonna change, that something else is gonna happen, and they were scared. They were very scared.”

This fear translated into changes in how Hamas treated him. “So everything changed,” Shem Tov said. “The amount of food that I got changed. The way they treated me changed. I could see just them preparing for something bigger.”

The young Israeli spent his 21st birthday in captivity, just weeks after his kidnapping. While he managed to hold his emotions in check during the initial period of his captivity, he broke down on his birthday thinking about his family. “It was the first time that I broke down, I cried… Understanding that my family, they’re back home, they’re safe, but they have to worry about me…. They don’t know if I’m alive, if I’m starving… they had no idea.”

Shem Tov was eventually released in February 2025 as part of a hostage exchange. Following his release, he traveled to the United States where he met with President Trump in the Oval Office.

“I personally told him that me and my family, and I would say all of Israel, believe that he was sent by God to release those hostages and to help Israel,” Shem Tov recounted. “He made that promise, he said that he will bring back all the hostages.”

Currently, a ceasefire is in place between Israel and Gaza following Trump’s implementation of a 20-point peace plan in September, which included provisions for hostage releases. According to reports, all living hostages have been freed, though the body of slain police officer Ran Gvili remains in Gaza.

For Shem Tov, life after captivity has meant building strong bonds with fellow survivors. “I would say they become like my family, like my brothers and sisters,” he said. “We have many group chats and we see each other every once in a while and there are some who really become like brothers of mine.”

His testimony offers a powerful account of resilience amid unimaginable circumstances and provides insight into how international politics can reverberate even within the isolation of captivity.