Three months after his release, Israeli former hostages and enjoy daily life

BOSTON – Three months after being released from Hamas captivity, Omer Shem Tov stands in a Boston Red Sox game. Surrounded by supporters, he threw away the first court and raised his arms to celebrate. His name flashed on the stadium billboard.

This moment is symbolic of new discoveries, and for Shem Tov, the 22-year-old has discovered the 22-year-old celebrity since she was imprisoned for 505 days in the Gaza Strip.

Before being taken hostage, Shem ToV had just finished serving in the military, working in a restaurant, playing with friends and planning a trip abroad. Now, he is in public as he travels around the global campaign to free the remaining 58 hostages, one-third of whom are considered alive.

Upon arriving at Logan International Airport in Boston, dozens of elementary school students and their teachers greeted Boston International Airport Shem Tov – wearing a “Boston Love Omer” T-shirt – singing Israeli songs in Hebrew and dancing with him.

He visited the NFL's New England Patriots and the Gillette Stadium of the New England Revolution in Major League Baseball. He met with Israeli players for the Revolution and saw six Super Bowl rings from the Patriots. Both teams are owned by entrepreneur Robert Kraft, whose foundational movement is against anti-Semitism.

“I don't like the word, but I'm very famous.” Shem Tov admitted to the opportunity to throw his first court in his first baseball game of all time, along with his other first games in Boston.

“I know, a lot of people, a big country, are waiting for me, a lot of people (fighting) come back home.” He said that since the attack on October 7, 2023, the international campaign launched by hostage families, was caught at that time, 251 people, about 1,200 people, about 1,200 people, most of whom were civilians, killed by Hamas militants.

According to the Gaza Ministry of Health, more than 53,000 Palestinians, mainly women and children, were killed in Israel's retaliatory offensive in Gaza. The huge area of ​​Gaza has been destroyed, with about 90% of the population displaced.

Return to normal, but also feels introverted

Shem Tov thinks he is doing “important things” but says “may be difficult”. His return to normal life is not without its challenges. He still freezes when he hears a jet and feels inside, what he likes now is beyond the rest of the hostages.

“I'm welcome in the street. People stop me, wanting selfies and stuff like that,” he said. “I support it, I'll talk to anyone, anyone, anyone… because everyone wants to give love.”

Still, small things like “Go and have a bite to eat, I feel it here.” “I know what they’re going through is suffocating me. Maybe they don’t have food.”

“I remember the first time I took a bite, it was heavenly.” “I was taking a shower, and I felt inward because they weren't taking a shower.”

Shem Tov, a tribe who attended the Nova music festival in southern Israel on the day of the attack, described trying to escape from the car driven by Ori Danino with friends Maya and Itay Regev, a stranger who brought them in. The Regev siblings were released in November 2023; Danino was later killed.

“I remember the festival itself, freedom and happiness, and we had fun as young people,” Shem Tov said.

“In a few seconds, life changed us. Some of my friends with me were killed. Those who came back, they were different.”

Living in the darkness

Shem Tov said he initially wore the ground of Itay Regev, who was traveling between apartments in Gaza, wearing women's clothes to cover up his identity.

Eventually, he was moved to a cell 130 feet underground, where he often was in the dark. He said he could only survive on cookies every day – from about 176 pounds to 121 pounds.

“Sometimes I think, I'm blind. I'm hungry. I'm spitting all the time. I'm cursed. Difficult, difficult times.”

He said his faith had brought him through the worst. He started talking to God every day, offering greetings to God, and over time, everything he had – “the air in my lungs”, “the small amount of food I have”, and his family was safe.

Shem Tov said he didn't initially realize the battle was above him. But when he was moved to a tunnel close to the ground, he could hear Israeli tanks rumbling on it, bombs shaking the area.

Once, he could hear the voices of Israeli soldiers through the ventilation unit.

“I'm very, very scared of my life even though I'm happy to hear them,” he said. “The kidnappers tied into the tunnel told me immediately after the army or soldiers headed here and we'll shoot you.”

“For the first time I feel safe”

When he was released with five other people on February 22 as part of a ceasefire deal, the video showed Shem Tov surrounded by masked, armed Hamas fighters. Under coercion, he saw him kissing the Hamas warrior on the head and blowing a kiss to the crowd. He recalled a van passing by in front of the stage and a door opened two hostages that were not released.

He was handed over to the Red Cross and brought to an area controlled by the Israeli military. “I got out of the car, I looked around and saw the sky, the sun. For the first time, I felt safe.” He added that he asked an Israeli soldier if he could hug her.

“This is the first time I've ever felt love and warmth,” he said.

Shem Tov was taken to meet his parents – his mother Shelly Shem Tov kept his bedroom when he left and instructed that no one should touch or clean it until he came home and did it himself.

“I saw my mom and dad running to them and I hug them,” Shem Tov said. “I've been waiting for this moment for a long time. I've imagined it for so long. That's what I want every hostage to experience.”

Shem Tov accepted the role of advocating for those who are still hostages—his parents are already doing it—to tell anyone that they have to take home.

“It's really fulfilling. I love what I'm doing, but I don't like the reason,” he said. “I hope they're all here today. I hope they'll be in good shape soon.”

While he is reluctant to talk about politics, Shem Tov is worried that Israel's latest offensive in Gaza puts the rest of the hostages at risk.

“For me, every soldier is a hero,” he said. “But there is a big one, but for me and the hostages, it's hard to be in the area when the army is in the area. We're bombed near us. I support the army, but we have to drive them away.”

“If you continue to bear military pressure, there is a high chance they will be killed.”