During his captivity, American-Israeli Keith Siegel feared his son had been killed during the Hamas invasion.

By Vered Weiss, World Israel News

After fearing the worst during 484 days of captivity, freed hostage Keith Siegel came home on Saturday to discover his son, Shai, was alive.

Siegel and his wife, Aviva, were kidnapped from Kibbutz Kfar Aza on October 7th, forced into their own car by terrorists, and driven to Gaza.

During his captivity, Keith Siegel feared his son Shai had been killed during the Hamas invasion.

Originally from the United States, the couple had settled in Kfar Aza forty years ago, where they raised their four children and welcomed five grandchildren.

Aviva was freed in November 2023 and tirelessly advocated for her husband’s release, as well as the release of the other hostages.

Aviva recounted moments of pure terror when she and Keith feared they wouldn’t make it out alive. “I prayed that I would die first, so I wouldn’t have to watch Keith die in front of me,” she shared in an interview with KAN. “Every day felt like a battle to survive. There was no air, no light. We were trapped, buried alive.”

She also recalled in an interview, “During the 51 days I was there, we were moved between 13 different locations, both above and below ground. At one point, we were placed in a tunnel with no air. We couldn’t talk, and we could barely breathe.”

Aviva Siegel also advocated on behalf of the female hostages and confirmed that Hamas was sexually harassing and assaulting a number of them.

She spoke emotionally in an address, saying, “These girls were transformed into puppets for their captors. They were dressed in tight clothing and forced to endure humiliations no one should ever have to face. We must never forget them.”

Upon Keith’s release on Saturday, Aviva said to Channel 12, “I am beyond grateful that Keith is back. But our fight isn’t over. Too many are still out there, living in darkness and enduring the unimaginable. We must bring them all home.”

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By Philissa Cramer, JTA

Before she was released from Gaza last week, Emily Damari asked her captors for a favor: to let her neighbor Keith Siegel go free instead.

That’s according to a report in Israeli media on Friday, five days after Damari was released and on the eve of a second expected release of Israeli hostages from Gaza.

Siegel, 65, and Damari were both taken captive by Hamas terrorists on Oct. 7, 2023, from Kfar Aza, the kibbutz of roughly 760 people in southern Israel where they lived.

Damari, 28, is the same age as one of Siegel’s four children; his wife Aviva was also abducted but released in November 2023 during a temporary ceasefire.

The request was denied, according to the report, which first aired on Israel’s Channel 12.

Israel and Hamas agreed on a schedule for the release of 33 hostages, most of them alive, over six weeks as part of a ceasefire deal; the schedule calls for women to be released first, followed by older and sick men, including Siegel.

The report suggests that at least some remaining hostages are being kept together and offers new evidence that Siegel is alive inside Gaza.

An immigrant from the United States, Siegel appeared in a hostage video released by Hamas last April. His mother died in December in North Carolina, where he grew up.

Since her release, Damari has become a symbol in Israel because she returned with bandages making her injured hand resemble the “rock on” emoji.

Among those welcoming her as she was driven back into Israel was Keith Siegel’s daughter Shir, who posted on Instagram later that night, “I am speechless. … My sister is home. I hugged her. It’s real. She came back to us. Thank God.”

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