Some of the Hamas operatives who guarded Israeli hostages in Gaza were not hardened militants but teachers, doctors, and university professors who had been radicalized, according to a former captive who spent nearly 500 days underground in Hamas tunnels.

In a chilling account following this week’s latest hostage release, Tal Shoham, one of the Israelis freed in February, said his experience exposed how deeply Hamas’ ideology had penetrated Gaza’s civilian society.

“One of the guards was a first-grade teacher, another was a lecturer at a university, and another was a doctor,” Shoham told The Times of Israel. “These are normal people becoming terrorists.”

Shoham described a chaotic and fractured command structure within Hamas, where guards alternated between fanatical cruelty and flashes of compassion. “There was no real order,” he said. “Some wanted to hurt everyone. Others tried to treat us well. It depended on who was on duty.”

He recalled one horrific incident in which a Hamas operative shot a Palestinian man in the knees because he “looked suspicious.” When medics arrived, the man was executed on the spot. “They decided he should die,” Shoham said.

Moments of decency were rare. Once, a guard smuggled him extra food and a note from his wife. “That was the only human act I saw in 500 days,” Shoham said.

While Hamas presents itself as an Islamist resistance movement, Shoham said many of its members appeared motivated by power and survival rather than religion. “Most weren’t religious,” he said. “They joined because it was the popular thing to do.”

Israeli officials estimate that more than 20,000 Hamas fighters have been killed since the war began, yet the group continues to replenish its ranks — a fact U.S. analysts attribute to the desperation and devastation in Gaza. Hamas, they warn, has been recruiting civilians with promises of food, money, and revenge.

Shoham said he personally witnessed Hamas operatives looting humanitarian aid shipments meant for civilians. “I saw with my own eyes that they stole boxes and boxes and boxes of aid from Egypt, Turkey, the Emirates,” he said. “But they didn’t give us any food in the tunnels. They celebrated it like a victory.”

His account paints a stark picture of a society where Hamas’ reach extends beyond its military wing — turning classrooms, hospitals, and universities into potential breeding grounds for extremism.

“Hamas isn’t just an army,” Shoham said. “It’s an idea that’s infected a generation.”

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)