Israel
‘End the war to save my husband’, pleads freed hostage who witnessed Hamas’s sexual abuse
Tens of thousands rallied in Tel Aviv on Saturday night to demand a ceasefire and the release of Israeli captives
September 17, 2024 09:43
Tens of thousands rallied in Tel Aviv on Saturday night to demand a ceasefire and the release of Israeli captives
September 17, 2024 09:43A freed Israeli hostage has told the JC that Benjamin Netanyahu must agree a ceasefire immediately to save the lives of her husband and young women who have been raped in captivity.
Speaking on a bridge overlooking tens of thousands of protestors rallying in the centre of Tel Aviv to demand the release of those kidnapped on October 7, Aviva Siegel said it would be “too cruel” for the prime minister to leave any kidnapped Israelis in Gaza.
She and her husband, Keith Siegel, were seized from Kibbutz Kfar Aza by Hamas terrorists on October 7. During their capture, his ribs were broken and he was shot through the hand. While Aviva was released after 51 days, he remains in captivity almost one year later.
“I don’t think anybody in the world would want to be in a place like where they are,” she said.
"Fourteen metres underground, not knowing if they’re going to live and see their families, ever again. The [kidnapped Israeli] girls and Keith are lying on a mattress and they’re trying to figure out if they’re going to be the next one to be raped, or hit, or tortured, or starved. The world needs to wake up for everybody.”
It is believed that 97 hostages remain in Gaza, including the bodies of 33 who the IDF say have died.
"I do not even want to think about Keith there, holding himself alive, and doing everything that he can to come back to us,” Siegel said.
“I do not want him to come back dead. Netanyahu has to go for a deal. There is no way, no other way, to bring them all back. I’m worried and sick to my stomach for all the hostages.”
Throughout the weeks Siegel was held underground as a prisoner, she said, she witnessed young women being sexually abused by Hamas.
“I was there while they touched the girls. When they came back after they’ve been touched, to tell you the truth it’s one of the worst moments I’ve ever gone through in my life. I can’t even imagine the girls lying on the mattress on the floor, filthy, dirty and trying to figure out if they’re going to be next.”
She added: “I know what they’re going through, I was there. And I wanted to die there so many times. Losing myself, just hoping that one of the killers would just kill me.”
In order to secure a hostage release deal, Siegel insisted, a ceasefire must be agreed.
"I’m against war. Keith and I are peacemakers. I want good for the good people in Gaza, and I want this country to go back to itself and be happy, to dance, and to eat, and to have water to drink.”
Yair Moses, whose parents were kidnapped from Nir Oz on October 7, and whose father, Gadi, remains in captivity, said he believed the recent murder of Israeli hostages had shifted public opinion in favour of a deal.
“I think people here in Israel realised even more the struggle to release the hostages is a lot about the values we want to live with in Israel,” he said.
"This is something I thought should happen much earlier but I’m happy it’s finally happened and that people come out. Do we prefer the values of life, or of revenge and killing others? We see the amount of people outside [at the protest] who say life matters.”
Netanyahu and the governing coalition, Moses claimed, are only concerned with killing terrorists and continuing the war.
"We just want our loved ones back home,” he said. “We are against a very cruel enemy, but we think they could do more to bring them back early.”
Asked if she thought a ceasefire would be negotiated, Siegal said she did not know.
“I’m not a politician,” she said. “I’m just Keith’s wife worried about him and worried about all the hostages.