Aviva Siegel, who was held hostage by Hamas for 51 days, told Newsmax on the Monday anniversary of the Oct. 7 terrorist attack on Israel that her husband Keith, who is still being held captive, is "a peacemaker" who would "never … kill a fly."
She called for global leaders to do more to make a better life for the good people of the world.
During an appearance on Newsmax’s "National Report," Siegel said she was holding on to hope that Keith would ultimately be rescued from the Palestinian militant group’s underground tunnels in Gaza where she said they were both held until she was released as part of a cease-fire deal.
"I'm going to keep strong," Siegel said. "I'm going to talk for Keith and for the hostages … and I'm begging. I'm begging. What they're going through is just too cruel. It's too cruel as us, no matter what political we think of. It's just so cruel to leave a human being underneath the ground with no oxygen. When I came out of that tunnel and looked at the sky and breathed I said to myself, 'I've got oxygen, I'm going to live.'"
Siegel said that all she thought about while she was in the Hamas tunnels was "if I'm going to ever come out there and if they're going to kill me, because you get the feeling of death all the time.
"But I want to tell you that Keith and I are peacemakers," she said. "Keith’s such a sweet, gentle, loving person. He's vegetarian. He would never, ever kill a fly."
"I want to tell the world — that's against anything that they're talking about — to wake up and say no woman in Gaza should have a baby in a tent," Siegel said. "No older person like me should lie on a mattress in a tent in Gaza. They should scream out for the Gaza people, the good Gaza people, to have a better life, just like the people in Israel."
The former hostage said she hasn’t got a home to go back to since being rescued and "we’re going through so much in Israel."
"I'm against wars, Keith’s against wars," Siegel added. "We are against killing people. People get one chance to live and the leaders of the world should wake up and make this world for good people to be a good life. And for everybody in the world — not only for Jews."
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Nicole Weatherholtz ✉
Nicole Weatherholtz, a Newsmax general assignment reporter covers news, politics, and culture. She is a National Newspaper Association award-winning journalist.
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