She spent 51 days in Gaza as a hostage begging for food and water from her cruel captors, but the nightmare didn’t end when Aviva Siegel was released as part of a hostage deal last year.
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.
“It’s just cruel to think that he’s in such terrible conditions for so long,” Aviva told The Post. “What they’re going through is the cruelest thing on Earth.”
Aviva had devoted her life to demanding action from President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to free her husband of 43 years — who is a teacher originally from Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
The pair were kidnapped from their home in Kibbutz Kfar Aza in southern Israel when Hamas terrorists invaded from Gaza. Kfar Aza saw some of the most horrific violence of the invasion — with victims found burned and beheaded and children murdered alongside their parents.
The frustrated grandmother of five says she would have rather died than be kept waiting to see her husband again.
When she was together with Keith inside Hamas’ sprawling tunnel network, Aviva recalled the strain they suffered as their captor barely gave them enough food or water to keep them alive.
By the time she was released last November, Aviva said she had lost 22 pounds since she was taken hostage on Oct. 7, with Keith suffering a similar toll as evidenced by a photo Hamas released of him in April.
“Keith lost a lot of weight when I was with him,” Aviva said. “In the photo in April, you could see that all his bones were out.
“He looked so thin, so pale,” she added, noting that her husband appeared 20 years older than he actually was.
She stressed that because of his age, Keith was dealing with back and body pains from being forced to stay still inside the tunnels without a chance for any exercise, an issue that has likely worsened after a year in captivity.
She also worried about how much air Keith was getting. She previously told reporters that at least once they nearly suffocated to death inside a Hamas tunnel.
But Aviva’s greatest fear is that after she was released, Hamas could have chosen to move Keith to a different location where he is alone without a single soul to comfort him.
“If I would just know that Keith has got somebody to be with… somebody to comfort him, just somebody to look at, it would make me a little bit calmer. But we don’t know anything,” she lamented.
The thoughts of Keith’s suffering, coupled with her own nightmares of Oct. 7 and captivity, keep Aviva awake at night.
She said the prospect of spending the Oct. 7 anniversary without her husband is unbearable — despite being comforted by the rest of her family.
Aviva, however, has found some relief with the families of the other 96 people who remain captive in Gaza, with Tel Aviv home to nearly daily protests against the government for its alleged failure to secure the hostages.
But with a year passing since they were promised their loved ones’ return, Aviva has had to endure hostage exchange deals come and go without an agreement as Israel and Hamas accuse the other of trying to change the terms of the cease-fire.
Now she said she’s had enough and plans to address Biden and Netanyahu directly the next chance she gets to speak with them again.
“I just can’t take it anymore,” she said. “I’ve decided the next thing I want to do is ask Benjamin Netanyahu, ask Biden, how am I supposed to manage it knowing that Keith is there?”
