A husband and wife who spent a combined 535 days held hostage by Hamas after October 7 have warned there could be another terrorist atrocity. Keith and Aviva Siegel were brutally kidnapped at gunpoint along with 17 other residents, from the Kfa Aza Kibbutz, just 1.9 miles from the Gaza border in Israel.
Hamas gunmen rampaged around the small farming community and 62 men, women and children were killed as a result of the attack. The Siegels were kidnapped like 248 other hostages who were snatched by Hamas and dragged back to Gaza for a fate potentially worse than death.
It would be 51 days before Aviva, a former teacher, was released. It was only on that day she discovered that her son Shai, who she feared had been killed on October 7, was alive.
For Aviva, 63, a grandmother and mum-of-four, it would be an agonising 484 days before she and her family would welcome Keith home from the horrors of captivity.
But the ordeal is still not over for the families of 50 hostages still held in Gaza, of whom Israeli authorities say 24 remain alive. Among them are twins Gali and Ziv Berman, two young men who the Siegels knew well and whose photo they show as they speak at a press conference at the Israeli Embassy in London on Thursday.
Behind the couple, there is a stunning painting of a bandaged hand missing two fingers held aloft in defiance. The hand is that of British hostage Emily Damari, a neighbour from the same kibbutz as the Siegels who was held for 471 days.
Keith, 65, a softly spoken man who lost four-and-a-half stone during his incarceration, said his captors told him he should leave Israel or his family would die in the “next attack”.
He said the terrorists said there woulde be “another October 7” adding: “They told me that I should leave Israel and take my family go, otherwise they might die in the next attack.
“They asked why I was living in Israel as an American-Israeli citizen, it’s their land they told me, we stole their land they said.
“I think it is the responsibility, not only of the Israeli government, but also the world, to ensure that Hamas does not have the ability to present a danger to people, it presents a danger to people on both sides. I do not wish any decent human being to suffer, whatever their religion is.”
The Siegels spoke in London the day before President Donald Trump said 10 more hostages could be released by Hamas “very shortly”. Speaking at a Republican Party dinner on Friday, Trump said: “We got most of the hostages back. We’re going to have another 10 coming very shortly, and we hope to have that finished quickly.”
The US are pushing for a 60-day ceasefire agreement to be signed between Hamas and Israel.
Some residents of the Kfa Aza Kibbutz have returned to the site of so many bad memories in an attempt to rebuild the shattered lives and buildings of the community.
But when asked if she could return, Aviva spoke powerfully about her feelings of the prospect of ever going back.
She said: “If you want to lie there on a bed when there are holes on the floor because Hamas tried to kill you there, or when I open the window and look in front of me, most of my neighbours were killed, or kidnapped.
“You wouldn’t want that for yourself, I don’t want that for myself. Not many people have gone back. So many people, their soul is destroyed from what they went through.
“My children lost their best friend. For so many there is nobody to go back to because the people were killed with their children. We cannot allow ourselves to even think October 7 to happen again, we can’t even allow ourselves to think that something like that will happen again.
“Because what happened should never, ever happen again in any place in the world.”
Aviva’s husband Keith said he had been back to the kibbutz four times since the nightmare day. He added: “I had a desire to go there and see my home and my community.
“I meet people from my community and it’s very empowering how we all come through this tragedy. I believe that it’s important to return to the area, I believe it empowers me, empowers us, and it will show to Hamas that they are not going to force us out.”