Hamas wanted Kamala Harris to be president, a freed Israeli hostage has claimed.

Omer Shem Tov, has said his captors had hoped the Democrat would win the election and credits Donald Trump for helping to secure his freedom.

“As soon as Donald Trump was elected, they understood that he wants to bring the hostages back home,” Mr Shem Tov told CNN.

The Israeli national was released in February as part of a short-lived ceasefire after spending 505 days held captive following Hamas’s Oct 7 attacks.

Mr Shem Tov was abducted along with 43 other people on October 7 2023 as he danced with his friends at the Nova Music Festival in southern Israel.

He spent much of his time in captivity in isolation in a tunnel beneath the Gaza strip, where he was starved.