Keith Siegel described the main points of his captivity to Kan Information on Saturday following his free up, along side Ofer Kalderon and Yarden Bibas.He described his ordeal in Hamas captivity, pronouncing he have been held in tunnels underneath town but in addition in civilian flats, the place he was once locked in rooms hidden from guests.Keith mentioned he had gained little or no meals and was once steadily pressured to consume meat to live on regardless of being a vegetarian. He was once additionally advised that his son Shai have been killed on October 7 and that he most effective discovered he was once alive from paying attention to the radio.Ofer and Yarden advised Kan that they’d been held in cages all through the primary few week, the place they had been incessantly overwhelmed and suffered from each bodily and psychological abuse.Ofer, upon free up from captivity, reportedly requested the IDF for a lager. He was once advised this was once no longer imaginable because of his situation and that he would regularly wish to readjust to keep away from refeeding syndrome, which can also be deadly.Yarden described the in depth mental torture Hamas put him underneath. His captors incessantly spoke about his spouse and youngsters, Shiri, Kfir, and Ariel Bibas, who had been additionally abducted on October 7. Hamas claimed they had been killed in an Israeli airstrike in November 2023. Palestinian Hamas terrorists free up Keith Siegel, in Gaza Town, February 1, 2025 (credit score: REUTERS/DAWOUD ABU ALKAS)Aviva Siegel preventing for her husbandAviva Siegel has spent the previous yr preventing for the discharge of her husband, Keith, after she was once freed in November 2023. After he returned house after greater than a yr in Hamas captivity, he discovered that his son, whom he believed to be lifeless, was once, if truth be told, alive.His free up marks an important second within the ongoing negotiations for hostages nonetheless held through the 15 may organization. Keith and Aviva Siegel, longtime citizens of Kibbutz Kfar Aza, had been kidnapped from their house on October 7, 2023, when Hamas terrorists introduced a brutal assault on Israeli communities close to the Gaza border. The couple was once pressured into their very own automobile and brought into the Gaza Strip. Aviva was once launched as a part of a 3rd spherical of hostage exchanges, however Keith remained in captivity till Saturday.Since her free up, Aviva has spoken publicly concerning the torment hostages undergo in Hamas captivity, describing the inhumane prerequisites and mental trauma inflicted on the ones held underground in tunnels underneath Gaza. “We had been moved between 13 other places, each above and underneath flooring, over the 51 days I used to be there,” she recalled in an interview with Israel Hayom. “In a single example, we had been positioned in a tunnel the place there was once no air. We could not discuss. Shall we slightly breathe.” Keep up to date with the newest information! Subscribe to The Jerusalem Put up Publication Aviva described moments of sheer terror when she and Keith believed they wouldn’t live on. “I prayed I’d die first so I wouldn’t have to look Keith die in entrance of me,” she mentioned in a separate interview with KAN. “On a daily basis was once a battle for survival. There was once no air, no gentle. We had been buried alive.”The couple had constructed their existence in combination over 4 many years in Kfar Aza, the place they raised their 4 youngsters and welcomed 5 grandchildren. Their youngest daughter, Shir, prior to now described her oldsters’ love for the kibbutz, pronouncing, “They moved there greater than 40 years in the past and fell in love with where. It was their house, and so they constructed their circle of relatives there.”Aviva’s free up in November introduced some reduction to the circle of relatives, however their battle was once a ways from over. For greater than a yr, she campaigned tirelessly for Keith’s go back, collaborating in rallies, talking sooner than executive officers, and calling on international leaders to protected the discharge of all hostages. She traveled out of the country, assembly with US President Joe Biden and different high-level officers to press for extra diplomatic efforts. “I can by no means prevent preventing till all our individuals are house,” she declared at a rally in Tel Aviv previous this yr. Within the months following her free up, Aviva additionally was a vocal suggest for the younger ladies nonetheless held through Hamas. Talking sooner than the Knesset, she testified concerning the sexual abuse and bodily violence continued through feminine hostages. “Those women had been was puppets for his or her captors,” she mentioned in an emotional cope with lined through Haaretz. “They had been wearing tight clothes, pressured to undergo humiliations no human being will have to ever endure. We will have to no longer omit them.”Bodily and emotional scarsAs Keith reunites along with his circle of relatives, their ordeal is a ways from over. The bodily and emotional scars left through greater than a yr in captivity will take time to heal. “I’m thankful past phrases that Keith is again,” Aviva mentioned in a commentary to Channel 12. “However our battle isn’t over. Too many are nonetheless there, residing within the darkness, struggling the not possible. We will have to convey all of them house.”The instances surrounding Keith’s free up stay unclear, with Israeli officers proceeding negotiations to protected the go back of different hostages. The Israeli executive has vowed to accentuate its army and diplomatic efforts to make sure that no Israeli citizen stays in Hamas captivity.
