Captivity in Gaza: A story of survival and hope

NICK EICHER, HOST: Coming up next on The World and Everything in It: trapped in Gaza.

Yesterday, you met a former Hamas hostage Aviva Siegel. We told you about her and her husband, Keith. For almost 40 years the two lived on an Israeli kibbutz just four miles from the Gaza border.

Today we hear the rest of their story.

LINDSAY MAST, HOST: Again, a word of warning on subject matter that may be too distressing for younger listeners. You can scrub ahead about seven minutes and come back later and I certainly hope you will come back, because this is so crucial to understand the worst of Islamic terrorism.

EICHER: We ended yesterday with both Aviva and Keith trapped in Gaza, underground in dark, insufficiently ventilated tunnels. Here’s WORLD Reporter Travis Kircher with part two of this two-part story.

SIEGEL: I was asking myself, What am I doing in Gaza with my pajamas? And what is Keith doing in his pajamas in Gaza?

TRAVIS KIRCHER: Keith and Aviva Siegel didn’t even have time to change clothes before Hamas terrorists dragged them across the border into Gaza amid cheers from Gaza residents. Hidden underground the hostages were forced to lie on filthy mattresses from around 5 in the evening to 9 in the morning. Forbidden to move.

SIEGEL: If I took my foot once out of the blanket because I was hot, I was threatened and nearly hit and beaten up into pieces just to do that. And that's the amount of control that they had on us. The only human right that I had as a as a human being in this world is how many times I blink and how many times I turn around while I'm lying.

And as the days wore on, Keith, Aviva and the other hostages watched their health deteriorate.

SIEGEL: So many times we were just starved and didn't got didn't get anything to eat while the terrorists just ate in front of us. 

As they got increasingly weak, Aviva says she was ready to give up.

SIEGEL: I was sure that I'm going to die, and I just prayed to God that I die first, because I did not want to see Keith dead. I saw him suffer so many times. I saw the terrorist take him into the shower and shave him looking like an Arab, and shave his body, because that's what they say that they do. And when he came out, they made a joke out of him and started laughing while he wanted to cry, and I wanted to cry.

Trapped in Gaza Aviva could see no end in sight. But although she didn’t know it yet, negotiators were working behind the scenes for her release. A temporary cease-fire had been mediated in exchange for 80 hostages. Late in November the terrorists pulled her aside and told her surprising news. She was going to be sent back to Israel. But not with Keith.

SIEGEL: I said that I'm not going anywhere without Keith. I'm going with Keith, or I'm staying with Keith. And I tried to argue with him, but it didn't help.

They assured her Keith would be released the next day. Aviva insisted on seeing him before she was taken away.

SIEGEL: I found Keith lying on a filthy, dirty mattress, and I bent down to Keith, and I said to him, “You be strong for me, and I'll be strong for you.” And Keith didn't say a word. He was in shock. And that's how we separated.

That was the last time Aviva saw her husband.

The next day Hamas terrorists placed Aviva and several other hostages in a vehicle, including an elderly woman and two young sisters—and 8-year-old Ela Elyakim and 15-year-old Dafna Elyakim. They were going to be released.

SIEGEL: Dafna said to me that she'll never, ever forget her sister screaming when they connected her finger, because it was disconnected. They took her to a vet and didn't put any anesthetic on her finger, it was like her sister was just waiting to tell somebody that will feel for her of something that she went through in Gaza.

The 8-year-old showed Siegel her damaged finger and said it was better now. But the elderly woman was not so fortunate. Siegel says 84-year-old Elma Avraham was freezing cold to the touch.

SIEGEL: I asked them for a blanket, and I covered her, and I started massaging her whole body and shouting in her ears that she needs to keep alive. So the family is waiting for her, and her grandchildren are waiting for her.

Siegel kept Avraham warm for six hours while they waited to leave. Avraham would later credit Siegel for saving her life.

After she arrived in Israel, Siegel learned how badly her health deteriorated.

SIEGEL: I lost 10 kilos in 51 days.

But she says right now she’s more worried about her husband Keith. Yesterday, November 26th, marked one year since Aviva’s release. She admits she doesn’t know if Keith is alive or dead. In April, Hamas released a video of Keith. Aviva says she couldn’t watch it, but she’s seen screenshots from it.

SIEGEL: Keith looks very thin. He looks very old, and he looks very, very sad, and it's just beyond for me to think that out of all the hostages, there's five hostages from kibbutz Kfar Aza. One of them is my husband.

She says she spoke in December with President Joe Biden about efforts to secure the release of her husband and the other hostages.

SIEGEL: I mostly felt Biden's heart. He was upset. He was sad. He was sad for me that Keith is still there.

And she says she hopes to speak with President-elect Donald Trump in the future.

SIEGEL: I want to tell him that we need his help. And I'm begging. I'm just gonna beg. I'm gonna beg and beg and beg until they bring Keith home.

But more than anything she says she wants to talk to her husband. 

SIEGEL: I would tell him that I'm doing everything I can and that his kids are just amazing, and his family is amazing. Everybody's doing what they can to bring him back. We are so worried about him, and we miss him, and we want him with us, and we just can't wait. I'm telling you, I just can't wait. I can’t wait seeing his grandchildren run and jump on him.

And as the conflict in Gaza continues, Aviva says it's not just Israelis who are suffering. She says civilians in Gaza are also victims of the evil perpetrated by the terror group Hamas.

SIEGEL: Keith and I have always been peacemakers. We want good for the whole world. I want good for the good people in Gaza. I do not want to even think about mothers in Gaza having babies in tents, or older people living in tents for a year and two months. Somebody needs to scream for those people to go back to their houses too…So for me, it's heartbreaking, because I think that we've been born into this world for good things, not for bad things.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Travis Kircher.

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