A freed Israeli hostage described on Tuesday the hellish conditions of the oxygen-deprived Gaza tunnels in which Hamas terrorists held her captive and starved her for “24 hours” at a time.
Aviva Siegel, whose American husband Keith is still being held by the terror group, detailed in an NBC News interview the horrid conditions she and other Israeli hostages faced in the Palestinian territory after they were abducted on Oct. 7.
“Keith and I nearly died in the tunnel because there was no oxygen, and I’ve been talking about it over and over and over — hard stories,” the 63-year-old told NBC News host Lester Holt during a trip to New York City as the United Nations General Assembly began.
“But I want to just tell everybody we’re not going to stop.”
Siegel, who spoke next to loved ones of other hostages, said she was forced to lie on “filthy dirty mattresses” and ordered not to move or speak in the cramped tunnels underneath Gaza.
She also described the torment of not eating for “24 hours or even more.”
“I was there in those same conditions,” Siegel reportedly said, “and I thought that I’m going to die all the time.”
Siegel previously said in January that Hamas was bringing female hostages “inappropriate clothing, dolls clothes” to turn them into “puppets with whom they could do what they wanted, when they wanted, and it’s beyond belief that they’re still there.”
Keith Siegel, along with Edan Alexander, Omer Neutra and Sagui Dekel-Chen, are the Americans still trapped in Gaza.
Aviva Siegel, who was released during a temporary cease-fire in November, made clear during Tuesday’s interview she will continue “shouting and screaming for the hostages to come home.”
A second truce deal has proven elusive as the conflict nears the one-year mark following Hamas’ slaughter of 1,200 Israelis on Oct. 7.
Israel War Update
Get the most important developments in the region, globally and locally.
Thanks for signing up!
More than 300 Israeli soldiers have been killed during the battle in Gaza, the Associated Press reported last month.
And more than 40,000 Palestinians have been killed during Israel’s military campaign, according to Hamas-backed health officials, though they don’t distinguish between fighters and civilians.
The Israeli military has estimated more than 17,000 terrorists have been killed so far, the AP reported in August.
Other relatives of hostages still in Gaza said on NBC News they are holding out hope for loved ones’ return and vow to keep the hostages in the forefront of people’s minds.
