Aviva Siegel, the wife of former hostage and Israeli-American Keith Siegel, said Tuesday that she was tortured by Hamas terrorists who abducted her and about 250 other Israeli civilians on October 7, 2023. He said he witnessed and experienced it.
Siegel, 63, spoke with Mark Beckman. some future day A podcast about her experiences. She was released last November after an eight-day cease-fire agreement (later broken by Hamas), but Keith remains.american sevenThey are still in Gaza, and three of them are believed to be alive.
Siegel was born in South Africa and moved to Israel as a child. She met Siegel when he was a student visiting Israel from North Carolina. He remained in Israel after they fell in love, and the two eventually settled on a communal farm in Kibbutz Kfar Azha in southern Israel.
Siegel recalled how terrorists entered her air raid shelter on Oct. 7 after shooting and killing her husband of 43 years, Keith. They broke his ribs in the process of kidnapping him and took the couple to Gaza in Keith's car.
In Gaza, large numbers of civilians, including women and children, greeted the terrorists who had brought hostages from Israel. They were forced into a tunnel and later joined other hostages, many of whom were injured. They were moved 13 times from one place to another until Aviva was released. In one tunnel, she was convinced she would die from lack of oxygen. They were without food and water for entire days at a time, she said.
At one point, she personally witnessed Hamas terrorists sexually assaulting one of the female Israeli hostages. She was later told that sexual assaults occurred frequently, but rarely in public. On another occasion, several Hamas terrorists took a female hostage and brutally beat her. When the girl came back hurt and crying, Siegel asked why she didn't scream. She replied that she did not want to give the terrorists the satisfaction of hearing her screams.
She and Keith promised to stay strong for each other and hoped to see him again. The suffering they endured was so intense from the first moment that anyone who understood it would never have allowed them to be detained in Gaza, she said. She said she is hopeful that President-elect Donald Trump will be able to bring the hostages home, but doesn't want to stop asking President Joe Biden to do the same, adding that Jan. 20 may be too late. he said.
Joel B. Pollack is a senior editor at Breitbart News. Breitbart News Sunday Sunday nights from 7:00 PM to 10:00 PM ET (4:00 PM to 7:00 PM PT) on Sirius XM Patriot. he is the author of Agenda: What should President Trump do in his first 100 days?available for pre-order on Amazon. He is also the author of Trumpian Virtues: Lessons and Legacy of the Donald Trump Presidencynow available on Audible. He is the recipient of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter @joelpolak.
