An Israeli couple kidnapped during the October 7 massacre have detailed the abuse hostages endured in Gaza, including sexual assaults on girls as young as 16 and starvation. Aviva Siegel, 65, a former kindergarten teacher, said one young female hostage returned from an assault "purple" and that women were forced into tight clothing and to shower naked in front of captors.
Aviva, held for 51 days, told the Daily Mail: "I'm a witness of all of the girls who were beaten up into pieces." She described how a 16-year-old hostage who had "never ever [shown] anybody her body" was sexually assaulted, with a guard entering the bathroom and forcing a girl into performing oral sex. Aviva gave testimony to the United Nations Committee against Torture in November last year.
Testimony to UN committee
Recounting the assault on the teenager, Aviva told the committee: "The Hamas terrorist just stood there and stared at her, and smiled. I remember looking at her while she came out of there. She was shocked, I was shocked." She said she had to dissociate to cope with suicidal thoughts, saying: "Because to see the girls being beaten, or Keith being threatened, or Keith being starved – and falling when he wanted to get up to the bathroom, because he was so weak – and all those things... I wanted to die. I just wanted to die."
Her husband Keith, 67, was freed after 484 days. He lost about 35kg from starvation, while Aviva lost 10kg. Keith told the panel that captors denied him water, forced him to strip, shaved his entire body, compared his intimate parts with another hostage, threatened them with knives, and made them beg for the bathroom. During his captivity, he was allowed to use a bucket of water and a cup to wash himself 25 times.
Kidnapping and release
On October 7, 2023, gunmen stormed the couple's safe room in Kibbutz Kfar Aza, where they had hidden for about four hours since 6.30am. Keith's ribs were broken and Aviva tore the meniscus in her knee. He said they were pulled "violently, brutally" into the living room, where between 10 and 15 screaming terrorists surrounded them. That day, 1,200 people were killed and 250 were taken captive by Hamas.
Hamas released Aviva in November 2023 under a temporary ceasefire deal brokered by Qatar and the US. On February 1, 2025, Keith was handed over to the Red Cross and taken to Israel by IDF soldiers in phase one of a mediated ceasefire-hostage release deal. He was reunited with Aviva and their four children, but the family have not returned to Kibbutz Kfar Aza, where 64 of 950 residents were killed and 19 were taken hostage.
