Former hostage Keith Siegel said that while he was captive in Gaza, a Hamas terrorist spat on him and kicked him in the leg and the ribs, in a joint interview with his wife Aviva Siegel on N12 on Friday.
“It really hurt a lot for a month or so,” he said. “We experienced sexual and verbal abuse: comments about the size of our genitals and comparisons between us, about my daughters, about my wife's sexual orientation—it’s very hard for me to talk about it.”
Keith Siegel was released after spending 484 days in captivity, and gave the interview to N12 three months after his release. During the propaganda ceremony staged by the terrorist organization, he told the Israeli news source that Hamas demanded he wave to the audience and tell them "thank you."
"I only waved, I gave up on the 'thank you,'" he said.
Siegel kept track of the days he was held captive
The former hostage then revealed that he was moved to different locations 33 times, and that he said he could say his exact location on any given day during his captivity. "It was very important to me to remember those dates; I thought they might have intelligence value. It gave me some kind of confidence."
He also described violence that was inflicted on Matan Angrest, who is still held captive, and a hostage who was held with Keith Siegel for a period in the Gaza Strip.
He told the Israeli news source that he was separated from Angrest in February 2024, when Hamas terrorists moved him to another location where he stayed with Omri Miran, another hostage. Miran's family received a sign of life from him in mid-February.
Keith Siegel also noted to N12 that many people would stop him and ask to take a photo with him after he was released, adding that he would agree to a photograph on the condition that he's able to hold a photo of one of his friends who is still a hostage, noting Miran as an example. He recalled that Hamas had relocated Miran somewhere else in July.
"We hugged each other really, really hard. We wished each other that we would meet soon in Israel, and then they took him."
Keith Siegel's wife's experience after he returned
Keith Siegel's wife, Aviva Siegel, also noted her time reuniting with her husband after the hundreds of days he spent in the Palestinian enclave. She added that her husband still has trouble getting used to life after captivity.
"He looked like a walking skeleton. His eyes were sunken. He looked unhappy and really shocked. I felt like they brought me a different person."
Both Keith and Aviva Siegel spent 51 days together in Gaza until the latter was released in the first hostage deal in November 2023. Keith told N12 that Hamas promised him that he would be released the next day. He was released 433 days later.
Keith Siegel also recounted his time in captivity in an interview last month with The New York Times.
“This occupies me, my mind, every day from morning to night and throughout the night when I wake up many times,” he told the NYT.
Like in the N12 interview, Siegel elaborated to the NYT on the physical and psychological torment from the terrorist organization.
He explained how he was brought into a room where a woman was tied up and being beaten.
“I was told to go into the room and to tell the person that the torturing will continue until they admit what they were being accused of,” he said.
Keith Siegel was released in early February alongside Yarden Bibas and Ofer Kalderon.
Aviva Siegel told N12 that for more than a month in captivity, Keith was held with Liri Albag and Amit Soussana. At one point, Keith was depressed, and Liri told him, "Keith, I'm worried about you; come back with us." The recent N12 interview revealed that he was also held with Agam Berger.
Keith Siegel then added in the recent interview that the terrorists who held him, while he was with female hostages, would demand that some of the kidnapped women cook and clean.
"They never asked me to do that. They didn't demand that from me."
Keith Siegel stated that he has feelings of guilt, adding that he doesn't feel like he can live a full and complete life as long as the other 58 hostages are still held captive, N12 reported.
Uri Sela and Maariv Online contributed to this report.
