The family of Keith Siegel, who has been held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip since being taken from his home in Kibbutz Kfar Aza during the Oct. 7, 2023 massacre, announced the passing of his mother, 97-year-old Gladys Siegel.
In an emotional Facebook post, Siegel’s daughter, Elan, shared the family’s anguish: “My father’s mother has passed away, and my father couldn’t say goodbye to her because he has been held captive by Hamas for over a year.”
The daughter recalled the horrific ordeal that Siegel has had to endure since being taken by the Islamic terrorists on that fateful morning when thousands invaded Israeli territory and killed more than 1,200 and took some 250 captives. Siegel’s wife, Aviva, was among those who returned as part of the November 2023 swap with Hamas.
“My father was forcibly taken from his home by terrorists barely in their twenties. He’s being held in dark tunnels, enduring severe hunger and both emotional and physical abuse just an hour’s drive from Tel Aviv. While government officials work from secure facilities in the Kirya, he remains trapped in the most horrifying conditions imaginable, with no immediate prospect of return,” she wrote on Facebook. “My father couldn’t come to say goodbye to his mother, who can never return. My father—a man who dedicated his life to doing good, who believed in goodness and loved humanity. My father is 65 years old. Dad won’t be able to stand with us tomorrow at the cemetery; he won’t be able to say goodbye to the woman who raised him and loved him all his life. A violent and murderous terror organization is dictating our lives from the Gaza Strip to the great United States, and the world remains silent.”
Siegel’s condition is unknown. Hamas released a video in April in which they coerced him to play along with their propaganda messages aimed at pressuring Israeli decision-makers to agree to a deal.
Originally published by Israel Hayom.
