{"id":90003,"date":"2025-10-12T21:53:10","date_gmt":"2025-10-13T02:53:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/?p=90003"},"modified":"2025-10-13T05:10:14","modified_gmt":"2025-10-13T10:10:14","slug":"his-son-is-due-to-be-released-from-gaza-imminently-ilan-dalal-is-grateful-and-not-just-to-trump","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/his-son-is-due-to-be-released-from-gaza-imminently-ilan-dalal-is-grateful-and-not-just-to-trump\/","title":{"rendered":"His son is due to be released from Gaza imminently. Ilan Dalal is grateful \u2014\u00a0and not just to Trump."},"content":{"rendered":"

By DEBORAH DANAN<\/p>\n

(JTA) \u2014 Hours before Monday\u2019s expected hostage handover, Tal Shoham, who spent more than 500 days in Hamas captivity, and Ilan Dalal, father of hostage Guy Gilboa-Dalal \u2014 with whom Shoham was held \u2014 expressed gratitude to both President Donald Trump and, in a rare moment for hostage families, to the Israeli government.<\/p>\n

\u201cThanks to President Trump for making the impossible possible,\u201d Shoham said, alongside Gilboa-Dalal on a Zoom call with reporters.<\/p>\n

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Ilan, father of Guy Gilboa-Dalal on May 12, 2025, his son Guy’s 24th birthday and his second while still in captivity in Gaza. (Ori Aviram \/ Middle East Images \/ AFP via Getty Images)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Shoham said he was \u201callowing himself to hope\u201d for the release of his fellow captives on Monday, but was also trying to block those feelings, \u201cso I won\u2019t break if it does not happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added his regret about not being invited to meet Trump. \u201cI wanted to shake his hand and thank him \u2014 not only for this deal but for the deal that released me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shoham was abducted from Kibbutz Beeri on Oct. 7 with his wife, two young children and other relatives. The women and children were freed in November 2023, and he was released in February this year.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Ilan Dalal, whose son was taken hostage by Hamas terrorists from the Nova festival, said the first thing he would do when he encounters Guy after his release was \u201chug him, smell him and tell him that the nightmare is over.\u201d<\/p>\n

But he went on to say that didn\u2019t know \u201cwhat kind of son I\u2019m going to get back,\u201d citing the last video released of his son, in which he saw \u201cdespair in his eyes.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe saw him not the way we knew him. We know Guy as he was two years ago, but after he went through two years of suffering, of starvation, of humiliation, both physical and mental abuse, we don\u2019t know how these things are going to affect him,\u201d Dalal said. \u201cI hope that he will not be so harmed that he cannot rebuild his life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shoham spoke at length of his captivity saying that he was \u201cintentionally starved \u2026 for sadistic psychological warfare\u201d receiving between 200 and 300 calories a day to share with fellow hostages Guy and Evyatar David \u2014 also set to be released on Monday \u2014 first, \u201cto make us suffer,\u201d and second \u201cto pressure Israeli society.\u201d<\/p>\n

He went on to say that his Hamas captors boasted about stealing humanitarian aid.<\/p>\n

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An image of Evyatar David from a video released by Hamas is shown at a rally in Tel Aviv, Aug. 2, 2025. (Ori Aviram\/Middle East Images via AFP\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cI saw with my own eyes that they stole boxes and boxes and boxes of humanitarian aid from Egypt, from Turkey, from the Emirates, but they didn\u2019t agree to give us any of this food in the tunnels,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

But after the February release of Eli Sharabi, Or Levy and Ohad Ben Ami, all of whom were severely malnourished, his captors began giving \u201cmuch, much more food,\u201d he said, adding that it was dangerous because they were suffering from malnutrition. \u201cIt could have killed us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shoham said his time in captivity included \u201ca lot of torture and cruelty.\u201d Asked to describe one of the worst moments, Shoham declined, saying \u201cdisconnecting from the experience\u201d helped him keep on fighting.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t want to go there,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Citing unnamed sources, Israel\u2019s Channel 12 News on Sunday evening said the government has assessed that some of the living hostages set to be freed on Monday have undergone torture.<\/p>\n

The Red Cross reported that it had seen some of the hostages and found some in serious condition, according to Israeli journalist Ronen Bergman.<\/p>\n

Shoham described his captors as \u201cso brainwashed and full of hate\u201d but for some of them, it didn\u2019t stem from religious motives.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome of them [were] religious, but some were only there because this is the popular thing to do. They can take all sadistic thoughts and actions not just against Israelis but also Gazans.\u201d He recounted one incident he had witnessed, in which a Hamas operative shot a Gazan man in the knees because he \u201clooked suspicious,\u201d and later, when the injured man was being attended to by an ambulance, he was executed outright because \u201cthey decided that he should die.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Israeli hostages stand on stage flanked by Hamas militants during the official handover in Gaza, Gaza Strip, on February 8, 2025. (Youssef Alzanoun \/ Middle East Images \/ Middle East Images via AFP)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

There were moments of humanity, he said \u2014 noting that Islam has rules for how to treat captives \u2014 but they were \u201cvery rare,\u201d and cited instances in which his captors brought him smuggled food and a message from his wife.<\/p>\n

He went on to say that most of them were \u201cnot soldiers.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the guards was a first-grade teacher, another was a lecturer at a university, and another was a doctor. These are normal people becoming terrorists,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Captivity, Shoham said, \u201cforced me to go inward.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOnly a few people mattered to me \u2014 my family and a few close friends,\u201d he said, adding that hearing of his wife and children\u2019s release on the 50th day of their captivity was \u201ctremendous\u201d in helping him get through his ordeal.<\/p>\n

The experience also intensified his faith. \u201cI have a lot of gratitude for life. My faith in humanity and in God only increased. It is much more spiritual and religious than before.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Released hostage Tal Shoham speaks at the weekly “Bring Them Home” rally in Hostages Square on Oct. 11, 2025 in Tel Aviv. (Photo by Alexi Rosenfeld\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

He credited the state with steady support once he came home. \u201cI felt a lot of support from the government \u2014 I have a psychologist, financial support \u2014 anything that I needed was taken care of. I personally felt a lot of gratitude to my country in these days.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked if he felt any misgivings towards the government for not securing a deal earlier, Ilan Dalal also struck a conciliatory tone.<\/p>\n

\u201cOf course we would have wanted it to be much earlier,\u201d he said. \u201cBut the Israeli government also needs to think about the security of Israel. Probably there were a series of processes that needed to be completed before we got to this point.\u201d<\/p>\n

He described the psychological toll he and his family had suffered over the past two years. \u201cSometimes I woke up in great despair,\u201d he said. \u201cSometimes I had no strength to get out of bed. But then I remembered my son in the tunnels. That he\u2019s counting on us to be his voice. We didn\u2019t have the option to break down.\u201d<\/p>\n

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