‘Was Told To Do So’: Freed Israeli Hostage, Whose Video Of ‘Kissing’ Hamas Men Went Viral

<p>In a video which is going viral on social media, a freed Israeli hostage named Omer Shem Tov was seen kissing the forehead of Hamas terrorist, before being released.</p>
<p>In the video, shared by one user, identified as ‘War Monitors’, the freed captive kissed the forehead of two Hamas men before getting released. However, according to The Times Of Israel, Shem Tov&rsquo;s father, Malki Shem Tov, said that his captors compelled him to do so.</p>
<blockquote class=”twitter-tweet” data-media-max-width=”560″>
<p dir=”ltr” lang=”en”>⚡️<a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/BREAKING?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#BREAKING</a> Israeli &ldquo;hostage&rdquo; kisses the forehead of 2 Hamas members <a href=”https://t.co/Icg6TDEyEQ”>pic.twitter.com/Icg6TDEyEQ</a></p>
&mdash; War Monitor (@WarMonitors) <a href=”https://twitter.com/WarMonitors/status/1893250387928387724?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>February 22, 2025</a></blockquote>
<p>
<script src=”https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js” async=”” charset=”utf-8″></script>
</p>
<p>Malki Shem Tov said that his son was held for most of his captivity alone in a tunnel. “He said that he was in tunnels alone for the whole time, almost 500 days&hellip;For the first 50 days he was with Itay and all the rest, on his own,&rdquo; Malki tells Kan TV. He said Omer that didn&rsquo;t see daylight at all.</p>
<p>Regarding kissing the forehead, &ldquo;he told us that they compelled him to wave and to kiss [on the top of the head] that [masked] guard who was standing next to him. He said they told him what to do. You can see in the footage that someone came up to him and told him what to do”, his father said.</p>
<p>Shem Tov also blew kisses to the crowd before finally being returned to his family. Speaking to Channel 12, Omer’s grandmother Sara said it wasn’t out of character for him to appear so jovial. “That&rsquo;s Omer. He gets on with everyone,” she said, adding, “Even Hamas&hellip;They love him even there.”</p>
<p>Omer Shem Tov was released alongside Eliya Cohen (27) and Omer Wenkert (23) in Nuseirat, central Gaza. Earlier on Saturday, two other hostages Tal Shoham, 40, and Avera Mengistu, 38, were released at a separate ceremony in Rafah, southern Gaza.</p>
<p><strong>ALSO READ: <a href=”https://news.abplive.com/news/world/pope-francis-news-critical-after-asthmatic-respiratory-crisis-says-vatican-1753316″ target=”_blank” rel=”noopener”>Pope Francis Remains Critical After Asthmatic Respiratory Crisis, Says Vatican</a></strong></p>