Shoham was one of dozens of hostages released from Gaza in February as part of a ceasefire agreement between Hamas and Israel that has since been broken. His wife, two children and three other family members were also kidnapped on Oct. 7, 2023, and were freed a month later.

Whether the threat was abusive Hamas guards, hunger, illness or Israeli strikes, there were moments during Tal Shoham’s 505 days of captivity in Gaza when he didn’t think he’d be alive the next morning.