Hamas terrorists showed ‘fear’ after Trump election win, freed hostage says

Omer Shem Tov was dancing with friends at the Nova Music Festival in Israel on October 7, 2023, when Hamas terrorists launched a devastating attack, killing hundreds of people and loading Shem Tov and dozens of others into the back of Gaza-bound vans.

The 20-year-old Israeli spent the next 505 days in Hamas captivity, serving as a slave in the terror group’s elaborate tunnels until “fear” filled their eyes on November 5, 2024 – when President Donald Trump won the presidential election, he told Fox News Digital.

Shem Tov recounted his months in Hamas captivity in Gaza as the war raged between the terrorist group and Israel, during a recent Zoom interview with Fox News Digital. He was released from captivity in February and traveled to the United States shortly thereafter to meet with Trump in the Oval Office.

“As soon as Trump was elected, I saw fear in their eyes,” Shem Tov said. “They knew that everything on the ground was going to change, that something else was going to happen, and they were afraid. They were very afraid.”

AMERICAN-ISRAELI HELD HOSTAGE IN GAZA FOR MORE THAN 580 DAYS SENDS MESSAGE TO HAMAS: “I WILL GIVE YOU HELL”

Omer Shem Tov spoke with Fox News Digital, recounting his 505 days of captivity in Hamas before his release in February. (Amir Lévy/Getty Images)

Shem Tov said that for approximately the last five months of his captivity, he lived in the Hamas tunnel system beneath the Gaza Strip, where he worked mercilessly.

“I dug for them, I cleaned for them, I moved the bombs from place to place and I transported food. I can tell you, just so you know, crazy amounts of food. Amounts of food that I had never seen before,” he said.

Shem Tov learned about the US presidential election from his Hamas captors, who were watching Al Jazeera on a television guarded in the tunnels.

“In the last five months, the terrorists brought the television into the tunnel and most of the time they watched Al Jazeera. That’s the only thing they watched. And… they didn’t let me watch television, yes, but sometimes I heard the television,” he said.

Hamas activists parade recently released Israeli hostage Omer Shem Tov on stage in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip, as part of the seventh release of a prisoner-hostage, February 22, 2025. (Eyad Baba/Getty Images)

He said he heard the terrorists discussing the election and “how they want Kamala to win.”

Once the election was decided, Shem Tov said, the terrorists changed the way they treated him, even offering him more food. He said he had survived mainly on small biscuits throughout his captivity, although Hamas controlled large quantities of food.

IDF ANNOUNCES TRANSFER OF DECEASED ISRAELI HOSTAGE REMAINS BY RED CROSS

President-elect Donald Trump gestures during an election night event in West Palm Beach, Florida. (Eva Marie Uzcategui/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

“Everything has changed,” he said of Hamas’ reaction to Trump’s victory. “The amount of food I was getting changed. The way they treated me changed. I could see them preparing for something bigger.”

Shem Tov said he spent his 21st birthday in captivity, just weeks after his first kidnapping. He said that between October 7 and 30, 2023, he “didn’t cry once”, but felt a surge of emotion remembering his family on his birthday.

Omer Shem Tov’s sister reacts during a family event as he appears on stage in Gaza ahead of his release February 22, 2025 in Tel Aviv, Israel. (Amir Lévy/Getty Images)

“On my birthday, it was October 31, it was the first time I broke down, I cried. It’s for me, thinking about my family, it’s something that really hits me. Understanding that my family, they’re back home, they’re safe, yes, but they have to worry about me. I suffered, I was abused, I was starved in the most extreme way,” he said.

Since his release, Shem Tov has praised Trump for his role in freeing the hostages and seeking peace in the Middle East. He told Fox News Digital that he had heard Trump’s name for a long time and knew he was a “big supporter of Israel” but had largely stayed out of politics before his kidnapping.

There is currently a ceasefire between Israel and Gaza after Trump presented a 20-point plan in September to ensure peace in the region. The plan called for the release of all the hostages. All Hamas hostages have been released except for one, murdered police officer Ran Gvili, whose body remains in Gaza.

Trump meets freed Israeli hostages, calls them ‘heroes’ at White House ceremony

Shem Tov was among a handful of hostages who traveled to the White House to meet with Trump earlier in 2025, where he said he and other hostages were “very grateful.”

President Trump meets with Hamas hostage survivors in the Oval Office on March 5, 2025. (POTUS/X)

“I personally told him that I and my family, and I would say all of Israel, believed that he was sent by God to free these hostages and help Israel,” Shem Tov said of what he told Trump during his meeting in February. “And he made this promise. He made this promise, he said he would bring back all the hostages.”

For Shem Tov, freedom after captivity means maintaining close ties with other hostage survivors.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

“I I would say that they become like my family, like my brothers and sisters. We have a lot of group chats and see each other from time to time and some of them really become like my brothers,” Shem Tov said.