Sister of freed Hamas hostage Keith Siegel shares emotional reunion: ‘All I have is my voice’

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    RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) — Lucy Siegel can still recall those first moments vividly.

“I was awakened around four in the morning and I was hearing all the buzzing. I have a special sound for the family WhatsApp group. So I go in, see on my phone there are all these messages that Kfar Aza has been infiltrated by Hamas terrorists and there’s bombing and things are very violent,” said Siegel.

Kfar Aza is the kibbutz where her younger brother Keith and his wife Aviva lived. Initially, they were receiving a stream of messages, including from Keith and Aviva’s children. Eventually, those messages stopped.

“Before I go to bed that night, I call and leave a voice message – one to Keith, one to Aviva. ‘I love you. Hope all is okay. Talk to you tomorrow.’ And of course, those messages never got to them,” said Siegel.

The following day, Lucy and her family learned what happened to Keith and Aviva.

“Our oldest brother did a joint call with myself and our other brother that was in the US to say that there were individuals that saw Keith and Aviva being abducted by the terrorists and taken in Keith’s work car,” Lucy recalled.

The couple were two of 251 people abducted during the October 7th, 2023 terror attacks, the deadliest day for the Jewish people since the Holocaust.

After 51 days, Aviva was part of a group of hostages released in a ceasefire agreement.

“That was the Sunday right after Thanksgiving, so we had a lot of family in our home. And that was wonderful to be able to celebrate that together. At that point in time, we were confident that there was a ceasefire and the negotiations would continue, and Keith and all the hostages would be released,” Siegel recalled.

However, throughout failed negotiations between Israel and Hamas and ongoing fighting, Keith remained in captivity. Hamas released a video featuring Siegel in April 2024, in which he said in Hebrew “I love my family very much.”

Throughout his captivity, the Siegel family, both in the United States and Israel, spoke with whoever they could in an effort to keep attention on the hostages.

“We were focused on humanity and it’s humanity for everyone. The Palestinians, they didn’t ask for what was happening to them, what their government was doing to them, and those were the messages that we were driving. We’re peaceful people,” said Siegel.

During speeches at universities, synagogues, and rallies, pictures of Keith’s image became commonplace.

“Every time I’d see a poster of Keith, inside my heart would hurt. And then I’d remind myself, I have to be strong and we have to continue,” said Siegel.

In the midst of it all, Siegel’s mother Gladys was experiencing severe health issues, creating a difficult conversation between Lucy and her two brothers.

“We just cannot have mom know about Keith’s situation. We agreed that we would do everything we could to prevent her from knowing,” said Siegel.

Gladys, an active volunteer with Meals on Wheels, Orange County Crop Walk, Boy Scouts, and Girl Scouts, among others, was the first woman to serve as President at Beth El Synagogue in Durham and of the Jewish Federation of Durham-Chapel Hill. In 2020, Governor Cooper honored her as a member of the Order of the Long Leaf Pine, the state’s highest civilian honor.

Keith’s last visit to the United States in 2021 was to see his mother, who continued to live in North Carolina.

“It was very difficult, to go and see my mother and be all upbeat. And inside my heart is breaking, and there’s something extraordinary going on in our lives,” said Siegel.

In December 2024, Gladys passed away in Chapel Hill.

While dealing with the grief of her passing, the family continued its efforts to try and secure Keith’s release.

“I really had to work in my own head to not go to a negative place. I had to remain positive that Keith would get home and that Keith was alive. And that’s just what I chose to do,” said Keith.

Keith Freed On February 1st, their 484-day nightmare ended, as Keith was released as part of a ceasefire agreement. In a video he recorded documenting his time in captivity, Keith detailed the physical and emotional abuse he endured.

“I was starved and I was tortured both physically and mentally. When the war intensified, the terrorists who held me treated me even worse than usual. The terrorists kicked me, spat on me, and held me with no water, no light, and no air to breathe,” said Keith.

Lucy and her husband visited Keith shortly after his release, spending more than a week in Israel.

“We had a lot of great time with Keith and his family and other family we have in Israel,” said Siegel, who also reunited with his two brothers.

The Siegel’s grew up in Chapel Hill and attended Beth El Synagogue in Durham. Their father, Dr. Earl Siegel, was a former Department Chair at the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health. It was on sabbatical that the family lived in Jerusalem, introducing Keith to the country. Eventually, he would return to volunteer on a kibbutz for a summer.

Upon finishing high school, he returned to learn the Hebrew language and ultimately made the decision to move to Israel, where his older brother Lee had previously moved. While he’s lived there his entire life, he continues to keep his home state on his mind.

“Keith asked, does anybody in North Carolina know what happened to me? It’s like, Keith, you have no idea. So he was very surprised,” said Siegel.

Keith is now out of the hospital, with Lucy crediting a system he devised while in captivity in keeping his memory sharp.

“He has techniques that he described to us that he used when he was a hostage to remind himself the day of the week, the month, the year, how many days he had been in captivity. He said he would do this over and over and over and because of that, he could share with us experiences that happened and tell us which day this event occurred,” said Siegel.

Now, the family is continuing to speak up for the other 73 hostages still held in captivity.

“We made the commitment as a family that we would not stop doing everything that we could as an individual and as a family until every hostage gets home. All I have is my voice, and I will keep using it until every hostage gets home,” said Siegel.

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