Although free for nearly a year, the 63-year-old still feels trapped knowing her husband, Israeli-American Keith Samuel Siegel, 65, remains suffering in Hamas’ cramped tunnels with little oxygen, food or water.
The pair were kidnapped from their home in Kibbutz Kfar Aza in southern Israel when Hamas terrorists invaded from Gaza.
The frustrated grandmother of five says she would have rather died than be kept waiting to see her husband again.
“He looked so thin, so pale,” she added, noting that her husband appeared 20 years older than he actually was.
The thoughts of Keith’s suffering, coupled with her own nightmares of Oct. 7 and captivity, keep Aviva awake at night.
Even after Aviva Siegel was freed as part of a hostage deal last year, the ordeal continued as she begged for food and water from her brutal captors for 51 days in Gaza.
Despite being free for almost a year, the sixty-three-year-old woman feels imprisoned because she knows that her husband, Israeli-American Keith Samuel Siegel, sixty-five, is still suffering in the small tunnels of Hamas, lacking food, water, or oxygen.
“Thinking about him being in such awful circumstances for such a long time is just cruel,” Aviva stated to The Post. “The cruelest thing on Earth is what they are going through.”. “.
In order to free her husband of 43 years, a teacher originally from Chapel Hill, North Carolina, Aviva had dedicated her life to pressing President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to take action.
When Hamas terrorists invaded from Gaza, they abducted the two from their home in Kibbutz Kfar Aza in southern Israel. Some of the worst violence of the invasion occurred in Kfar Aza, where victims were discovered burned and decapitated, and children were killed alongside their parents.
The irate mother of five grandchildren claims that she would sooner die than have to wait to see her spouse once more.
Aviva remembered the strain of being held captive by Hamas for so long that their captor could hardly provide them with enough food or water to survive. She was with Keith when they were inside the vast network of tunnels.
When Aviva was set free in November of last year, she claimed to have shed 22 pounds since being kidnapped in October. 7. A picture of Keith that Hamas published in April shows that he suffered a similar fate.
When I was with Keith, he shed a significant amount of weight, according to Aviva. “You could see that all of his bones were removed in the April photo.
She continued, saying that her husband appeared twenty years older than he actually was. “He looked so thin, so pale.”.
She emphasized that, due to his advanced age, Keith was experiencing back and physical pain from having to remain motionless inside the tunnels without having the opportunity to exercise; she suspected that this condition would only get worse after a year in captivity.
She was also concerned about Keith’s air intake. They almost died from asphyxia within a Hamas tunnel, she had previously told reporters.
Aviva’s biggest worry, though, is that Hamas might have decided to relocate Keith to a new place where he is abandoned and has no one to console him after she was set free.
“I would feel a little bit calmer if I knew that Keith has someone to spend time with, someone to console him, or even just someone to gaze at. However, we are in the dark,” she bemoaned.
Her own nightmares from October combined with the memories of Keith’s pain. (7) and confinement, keep Aviva up at night.
She said the prospect of spending the Oct. She is consoled by her family, but it is unbearable to celebrate her seventh anniversary without her husband.
While there are almost daily demonstrations in Tel Aviv against the government for allegedly failing to protect the hostages, Aviva has found some solace in the company of the families of the other 96 captives still held in Gaza.
But since they were promised the return of their loved ones a year ago, Aviva has had to put up with hostage exchange agreements that come and go without a deal as both Israel and Hamas accuse each other of attempting to alter the terms of the cease-fire.
She now declared that she had had enough and that the next time she has the opportunity to speak with Biden and Netanyahu, she will speak to them directly.
She uttered, “I just can’t handle it anymore.”. “Now that Keith is here, how am I going to handle things? That’s what I want to ask Benjamin Netanyahu and Joe Biden as my next step,”.
