Israeli Hostage Reveals He Faked Converting to Islam in Gaza Tunnels 

Maxim Herkin, an Israeli hostage who survived nearly a year and a half in Hamas terror tunnels beneath Gaza while concealing his identity as an IDF officer, has revealed that he told his captors he wished to convert to Islam, a calculated deception designed to gather intelligence and break through his total isolation.

Speaking in an interview Saturday night with Avri Gilad and Yair Sharki on Keshet 12, ahead of the release of a new memoir, Herkin said the move was not a crisis of faith but a deliberate tactical decision.

"If you want to win a war, you need to learn the enemy," he said, explaining his reasoning. "I wanted to receive information. We were cut off from everything, and what we received from them was 99 percent their own worldview, plus lies. So when you get access to information, hearing one sentence here or there was worth hours of discussion afterward. They had a television on, Al Jazeera or whatever it was, and that's where you draw information from. Sometimes it was conversations between them, or phone calls, because my tunnel was a command post."

Herkin said the idea to feign conversion emerged gradually, noting that Hamas operatives had a preexisting inclination to discuss Islam. "That's also the only way somehow to talk to them, because in the beginning, for three months, we didn't speak at all," he said. He said that he 'converted' on May 10, 2025.

Throughout the ordeal, Herkin said, his Jewish identity and that of his fellow hostages deepened behind the captors' backs. Asked whether his faith grew stronger during captivity, he did not hesitate. "Of course. We observed Shabbat, we said Selichot, we observed Yom Kippur. It's the easiest and most joyful thing in the world. I recommend it to everyone."

Herkin had previously become known for successfully concealing his rank as an IDF officer throughout his entire time in captivity. His new book details his experiences in the tunnels.