Released hostage Keith Siegel, who was freed from Hamas captivity in January after being held by Hamas in Gaza for 484 days, came to the Knesset on Tuesday to speak to the members of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee and press for a ceasefire deal that would bring the remaining 50 Israeli captives home.
The Israeli-American Siegel was abducted by Hamas terrorists from his home in Kfar Aza with his wife, Aviva, during the October 7 massacre. She was freed in the first ceasefire agreement in 2023, leaving him behind.
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Keith Siegel is overcome while asking lawmakers to bring remaining hostages home
(Photo: Knesset spokesperson)
3 View gallery
Keith Siegel pleads to lawmakers to bring remaining hostages home
(Photo: Shalev Shalom)
I came here to tell you how difficult it was there, to illustrate as much as I can, the suffering of those who are still there. They've been held captive for 641 days. words cannot describe the suffering they are enduring," Seigel said, sitting next to Lishai Miran, whose husband, Omri, was among the hostages still in the hands of Hamas.
"I was held with Omri Miran," he said. "He has a wife and two little girls. Being away from them is torture enough, without the physical violence and abuse he is subjected to."
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Seigel described to the lawmakers in the committee the horrors he faced, including numerous threats to kill him. "I had a gun put to my head and saw other captives, men and women, who were subjected to terrible violence and threats that they were to be killed. I witnessed a woman captive who was tortured terribly. She had a sharp rod attached to her forehead and a gun to her head."
He said he could not stop seeing the horrors. "Those sights haunt me to this day and are getting harder all the time. I am physically back home, but part of me is still there, in Gaza, with Omri, and with Gali and Ziv Berman. They are suffering every minute. The twins were separated by their captors, they were injured, and their father Doron is seriously ill."
Sitting with Siegel in the committee was Anat Angrest, whose son, Matan, a soldier in the IDF, was also held in Gaza, suffering from injuries he sustained during the massacre.
"We had to beg to go to the bathroom and we suffered violence and abuse. Matan was there in the tunnel, having a hard time breathing. To keep him alive because he was valuable to them as a soldier, they took him out. Matan fought to save my Kibbutz and we have to fight to bring him and all of the others back," Siegel said.
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Keith Siegel pleads to lawmakers to bring remaining hostages home
(Photo: Shalev Shalom)
Lavi-Miran told the committee that she struggled to come to speak to them after five IDF soldiers were killed and over a dozen more wounded on Tuesday. "I heard the entire thing from my house," she said. "Had we had a ceasefire in place, we would not be mourning these five boys. We can't take any more of this, we're done."
Her daughter will be four at the end of the month. "Don't let her have another birthday without her father," she begged.
First published: 15:50, 07.08.25