Keith Siegel raised his family in a small village in Israel. Then, on October 7, 2023, their lives changed forever when Hamas launched an attack, taking him and his wife hostage.
After President Donald Trump brokered a historic peace deal between Israel and Hamas, the terror group released 20 live hostages, as The Dallas Express previously reported.
In an October 15 briefing with the nonprofit Concerned Women for America (CWA), Siegel shared his story of captivity and redemption.
“They were constantly trying to convert me to Islam,” Siegel said in the forum. “My Jewish faith became stronger. I prayed, and I said blessings, I thought a lot about my people.”
Siegel is an American citizen. He was born in California and grew up in North Carolina. In 1979, at age 20, he moved to Israel. He married his wife, Aviva, in 1981.
The couple moved to Kibbutz Kfar Aza, a small village near the border of Gaza, in 1983. They have lived there ever since, raising their four children. Keith and Aviva now have five grandchildren.
Keith thanked his family for giving him the strength to survive as a Hamas prisoner.
“When I was in captivity, I knew that I must survive,” he said.
CWA CEO and President Penny Nance told The Dallas Express the group held this briefing to emphasize support for Israel and to recognize the horrors endured by hostages like Keith and Aviva.
“We rejoice that they both were freed, and that other hostages were finally released,” Nance said.
CWA also wanted to remind leaders and supporters that it feels the matter is not over, so long as Hamas keeps the bodies of two American hostages, according to Nance.
“Many in our country are willfully blind to the atrocities of rape, murder, and kidnapping Israel endured when Hamas attacked on October 7, 2023,” she said. “We are intent on supporting Israel and praying for lasting peace in the Middle East.”
‘Something Was Different This Time’
When Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, they reportedly murdered close to 1,200 people and kidnapped 251 others.
The morning of the attack, rockets started hitting Kibbutz Kfar Aza around 6:30 a.m., according to Siegel. This had happened many times in the past, so his family knew the drill. They went to the safe room.
“The rockets went on and on, and we got a whole lot of text messages and telephone calls,” Siegel said. “We realized something was different this time.”
Officials announced that Hamas terrorists had entered the village and ordered residents to lock their doors and windows. Around 10:30 a.m., the militants broke into Siegel’s home.
They shot into the safe room, and dragged Keith and Aviva out – screaming in Arabic. The terrorists brought the couple to their car and put them in the back seat.
“They shot at us, and I was hit by a bullet in my wrist on the way to the car,” Siegel said. “Two terrorists – one driving, one sitting next to him with a gun, and one in the backseat on the left. Aviva in the middle, and I’m to the right, and he’s holding this long knife right in front of our face. That’s when we realized that we were being kidnapped.”
The Department of Justice arrested Mahmoud Amin Ya’Qub Al-Muhtadi, a 33-year-old Gazan, on October 16 for joining the terror attacks near Kfar Al Aza, as The Dallas Express reported at the time. He had reportedly been hiding in Lafayette, Louisiana.
‘Now, You Are A Muslim’
When the Hamas terrorists drove away from the kibbutz, Siegel reported seeing massive clouds of smoke rising from the neighborhood.
“I saw a terrorist standing next to a Hamas car, and we’re into Gaza,” he said. “The driver screaming through the window, ‘Prisoners, prisoners, prisoners.’ And people are cheering and clapping their hands.”
The militants moved the couple into a different car, blindfolded them, and drove them around. Then they moved to another car, which brought them to a house.
“They took off the blindfold. We’re in a residential home, and there’s an opening into a tunnel,” Siegel said. “They forced us to get down into the tunnel.”
They climbed down a ladder into the dark, narrow space. “They’re saying, ‘Walk, walk, walk.’ We’re bumping our heads on the way,” Siegel said.
The terrorists put them into a “small niche,” where they watched other hostages come in – around 900 total, including seven from their community. Siegel said they spent two and a half days sleeping in a tunnel, stacked head to foot, surrounded by Hamas members.
“The terrorists were constantly walking back and forth, while ground and sand was falling from the ceiling,” Siegel said. “My face – our faces – was covered with sand.”
On October 9, they moved the hostages into a home.
“The exit from the tunnel was in this family’s living room, and the television was on,” Siegel said.
There, he said, the militants clothed the hostages with Islamic garb – with robes and hats for the men, and hijabs for the women.
After 51 days, they released his wife, Aviva. But they held him for another 433 days.
‘They Held Me In A School In The Stairwell’
“Then I was alone with the terrorists for two weeks,” Siegel said. “They held me in a school in the stairwell.”
When he initially arrived at the school, Siegel said the terrorists sat him on a chair by himself at the entrance. They only let him use the bathroom twice daily, before sunrise and after sunset. He said Palestinian civilians surrounded him.
At the school, he said, Hamas members were “constantly” trying to convert him to Islam.
“The first day that I arrived, one of them said, ‘Repeat after me.’ I thought he was teaching me Arabic,” Siegel said.
So he repeated after the man. “He said, ‘Now you are a Muslim.’ I said, ‘No, I’m not – I’m Jewish.’”
This continued throughout his time in captivity, saying he must become Muslim to avoid hell, according to Siegel.
Siegel reportedly spent 67 days with an IDF soldier named Matan, locked by themselves in a dark room with no windows. Matan was serving on an Israeli tank crew when Hamas attacked on October 7, taking him captive, beating him, and parading him through the streets of Gaza, Siegel said. While they were together, Matan was still suffering from his injuries.
“We had to beg to go to the toilet – knock on the door, ask for them to come,” Siegel said. “Sometimes they came, sometimes they didn’t.”
‘I’m Going To Kill You Now’
Hamas eventually separated the two men and placed Siegel with Omri Miran, a middle-aged father of two girls. They spent four and a half months together, during which time the terrorists moved them multiple times.
Hamas denied the prisoners basic human rights and often waved rifles in their faces, according to Siegel.
“A terrorist threatened to kill me,” he said. “He pointed a pistol at me out of the blue. I had done nothing, I was just lying down doing what I was told to do. He pointed a gun at me and said, ‘I’m going to kill you now.’”
One minute, the terrorists would be laughing, smiling, and joking around, according to Siegel. But they would instantly turn “violent, cruel, and mean,” threatening the prisoners.
Hamas made a propaganda video featuring Siegel and Miran. Hamas told them to recall memories of holidays with their families – it was the Jewish holiday of Passover at the time. He saw the video play on the air.
“I thought it was this incredible opportunity that my family will see that I’m alive. I was just trying desperately to present myself as very strong,” he said. “When I started to say, ‘I have these wonderful memories about times together with the family during the holidays’ – which is something the Hamas terrorists told us to say – I started to cry.”
‘I Must Return To My Family’
After three months, the terrorists brought Siegel to a home where he met others from his kibbutz. After another month and a half, they moved him again to an apartment. There, he was alone for two months – from November 29 to February 1, when he was released.
“I’m so joyful and so excited and so happy beyond words that my friends, and all the 20 alive, were released,” Siegel said.
During his time in captivity, he said his Jewish faith became stronger. Siegel recalled the Holocaust, wars, and terror attacks against Jews – “the atrocities and the catastrophes.”
“Thinking about that was inspiring, and gave me a lot of power – empowering,” he said. “And helped me get through the days of uncertainty and not knowing when, or even if, I would ever be reunited.”
“I kept promising myself, ‘I must survive, I must return to my family,’” said Siegel.