‘I am haunted by what I saw in Gaza,’ released US-Israeli hostage tells lawmakers

The Israeli-American Siegel was abducted by Hamas terrorists from his home in Kfar Aza with his wife, Aviva, during the October 7 massacre. She was freed in the first ceasefire agreement in 2023, leaving him behind.

“I was held with Omri Miran,” he said. “He has a wife and two little girls. Being away from them is torture enough, without the physical violence and abuse he is subjected to.”

Seigel described to the lawmakers in the committee the horrors he faced, including numerous threats to kill him. “I had a gun put to my head and saw other captives, men and women, who were subjected to terrible violence and threats that they were to be killed. I witnessed a woman captive who was tortured terribly. She had a sharp rod attached to her forehead and a gun to her head.”

He said he could not stop seeing the horrors. “Those sights haunt me to this day and are getting harder all the time. I am physically back home, but part of me is still there, in Gaza, with Omri, and with Gali and Ziv Berman. They are suffering every minute. The twins were separated by their captors, they were injured, and their father Doron is seriously ill.”

“We had to beg to go to the bathroom and we suffered violence and abuse. Matan was there in the tunnel, having a hard time breathing. To keep him alive because he was valuable to them as a soldier, they took him out. Matan fought to save my Kibbutz and we have to fight to bring him and all of the others back,” Siegel said.

Lavi-Miran told the committee that she struggled to come to speak to them after five IDF soldiers were killed and over a dozen more wounded on Tuesday. “I heard the entire thing from my house,” she said. “Had we had a ceasefire in place, we would not be mourning these five boys. We can’t take any more of this, we’re done.”

Her daughter will be four at the end of the month. “Don’t let her have another birthday without her father,” she begged.