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Taken by Hamas: 600 days of captivity in Gaza

“When I think about the hostages who are marking 600 days in captivity, and I think about my experience during those 484 days, it’s hard to imagine surviving and to be able to cope with that," former Hamas hostage Keith Siegel told JNS.

The handover of Israeli hostage Omer Wenkert to the Red Cross, as part of the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas, in Nuseirat Camp in the central Gaza Strip, Feb. 22, 2025. Photo by Ali Hassan/Flash90.
The handover of Israeli hostage Omer Wenkert to the Red Cross, as part of the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas, in Nuseirat Camp in the central Gaza Strip, Feb. 22, 2025. Photo by Ali Hassan/Flash90.

“Returning home, knowing that the four hostages that I spent time with in captivity are still there, is very challenging and difficult,” former Hamas captive Keith Siegel, 66, told JNS on Wednesday as remaining hostages held by Hamas in Gaza marked 600 days in captivity. 

“They deserve to be brought home the way that I was,” he added. 

Siegel spoke to journalists as part of a special panel organized by MediaCentral, a media liaison service center which assists journalists based in or visiting Israel. 

Siegel and his wife, Aviva, were brutally kidnapped from their home in Kfar Aza on Oct. 7, 2023. Aviva was released after 51 days while Siegel remained in captivity for an additional 433 days, until he was finally released on Feb. 1 as part of a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas that saw the release of 33 hostages.  

Siegel spoke of the hardship that came with being completely disconnected from family and friends while in captivity. 

“Thinking about their suffering and what they were going through was very distressing for me. Them not being able to know how I was doing, whether I was alive and vice versa. I had no way of knowing how they were doing or if they were alive,” said Siegel. 

“I saw a video of Aviva being released. I saw the mobs in Gaza, how violent and hostile they were, how they climbed on the Red Cross vehicle that picked up Aviva and how they were hitting it, and I did not know whether Aviva had made it home,” Siegel told JNS.  

“They did not show the release on TV. This was very stressful, as well as the uncertainty of knowing when I would be back with my family, if ever, whether I would make it home alive,” he added. 

Siegel stressed to JNS the importance of recognizing “the enormous support of people in Israel and the incredible effort they have been engaged in since Oct. 7 to bring the hostages back.”

“I was amazed and I am still amazed at how so many people are doing so much to make this happen,” he said.

Siegel described the traumatic experience of being kidnapped by Hamas and what he endured in captivity. 

“We were forced out of our house at gunpoint, forced into my car, driven into Gaza, threatened all the way, shot at. I was injured in my hand, pushed on the ground, and broke my ribs. We were moved from car to car, forced out of the car into a home, and down into a tunnel,” Siegel said.

“In the tunnels, we met other hostages who had the same experience of being brutally kidnapped from their homes in our community. A mother and her three children who had witnessed her husband and eldest daughter murdered in their home before they were kidnapped,” he continued.

Siegel, Aviva, and the mother and three children spent three days in the tunnel and were then forced out into a family’s home in Gaza. They were given clothing to blend in with locals and were driven to an apartment, where they were held for a few days.

“The family was taken away, two young women soldiers were brought, we spent around a month with them, experiencing violence, hostility, brutal behavior, being threatened, abused physically, verbally. I witnessed sexual abuse towards the young women,” said Siegel. 

“We were then separated from the two soldiers and taken into a tunnel, barely able to breathe. We spent time in this tunnel, and the possibility of us dying there was very real. We were left there for extended periods of time, gasping for breath, with very, very little … food and water,” he added.

On day 51, Siegel and his wife were separated. 

“They took Aviva away, they told us that I would be released the next day and that we would be reunited. I remained in captivity for another 433 days. I was kicked, spat on, threatened, held in places I could have easily been recognized. Starved, dehydrated, under constant threat, held at gunpoint and witnessing horrific abuse and torture of other hostages,” he continued. 

“When I think about the hostages who are marking 600 days in captivity and I think about my experience during those 484 days, it’s hard to imagine surviving and to be able to cope with that,” he added. 

Also taking part in the briefing were Ayelet Samerano, whose 21-year-old son, Yonatan Samerano, was shot by Hamas terrorists and abducted by a U.N. Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) social worker on Oct. 7.

 “I didn’t imagine that I would reach this day. We aren’t sleeping, not eating. We cannot live. I am traveling all over the world to convince everyone that my son should be home,” said Samerano. 

“We don’t have any more words to explain our feelings, and I am begging for my son to be brought home. He should have been home a long time ago,” she continued. 

“Yonatan is an ambitious and very successful young man. He has a lot of dreams. I wish for him to still be alive, but we don’t know whether he’s alive or not, because the terrorists shot him before they took him,” she said.

With regard to UNRWA, she said, “When we talk about humanitarian organizations and Gazans, one should understand that a humanitarian organization kidnapped my son.”

‘So that the rest can be solved …

Dalia Cusnir, whose brothers-in-law Yair and Eitan Horn were taken by Hamas terrorists from Kibbutz Nir Oz on Oct. 7, also called for the international community to take action. Yair was released on Feb. 15 as part of a ceasefire deal, but Eitan remains in captivity.

“Yesterday, we marked 100 days since Iair was released. He said he did not really feel free because he left his little brother Eitan back in the tunnel,” said Cusnir. “Yair is free if you look at him walking on the street, but his heart, his soul, his mind is in Gaza,” she added.

It isn’t only Eitan that’s being held captive, either, she said.

“The key component to solving the crisis in Gaza is for Hamas to let the hostages go, to release the hostages and the rest of the Gaza population.”

And yet, she continued, “So many countries are condemning Israel about the fact that the humanitarian aid is not going in.”

“All these governments should get involved. They should have done it 600 days ago and make Hamas release the hostages so that the rest can be solved,” she added. 

On Monday, U.S. special envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff  criticized Hamas for its latest actions in the ongoing ceasefire negotiations, calling them “disappointing and completely unacceptable.”

His remarks came as the United States intensifies efforts to broker a new agreement aimed at ending hostilities in Gaza and securing the hostages’ release.

Witkoff confirmed that Israel has agreed to his proposal, which includes a temporary ceasefire in exchange for the release of 10 living hostages and the return of the remains of 19 others held by Hamas. “That deal is on the table. Hamas should take it,” he said, adding that the agreement would “lead to substantive negotiations to find a path to a permanent ceasefire, which I agreed to preside over.”

An estimated 58 hostages are still being held in Gaza, with 20 confirmed to be alive, according to Israeli authorities.

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