’I touched death so many times in Gaza’: Released hostage Aviva Siegel on ’screaming’ for a cease-fire deal

Israel, it seems, is once again on the brink of a cease-fire deal with Hamas – one that would see hostilities halted for at least two months, and an exchange of Palestinian prisoners for Israeli hostages.

But as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. President Donald Trump talk particulars in Washington, the families of the 50 remaining hostages are far from relieved. The deal on the table would only bring home 10 of the living hostages, and the remains of 18 of the deceased – leaving the fate of the 22 others in question.

Aviva Siegel was kidnapped on October 7 from Kibbutz Kfar Azza along with her husband, Keith. She was released after 51 days, and campaigned tirelessly for Keith's release. After he came home in February, the reunited couple have fought for the return of the remaining hostages in Gaza.

Siegel joins Haaretz reporter Linda Dayan to talk about this deal, captivity, adjusting to freedom and the urgency of bringing every hostage home.

"Nobody's really talking about what's going to happen after the 10 [living hostages] come home, and half the hostages that aren't alive," Siegel says. "I've asked important people if they can answer that, because it's a question that I think about all the time, and I'm very, very worried."

On what may be the eve of a historic decision, she says that she would tell decision-makers – at home and abroad – her own story, and ask them how they can abandon the hostages who remain there, like 27-year-old twin brothers Gali and Ziv Berman.

"I was there for the 51 days. I felt that I was left behind," she recounted. "And there were so many moments that I lost hope and I just wanted to die. What I saw in Gaza and what I felt was so much for a human being to go through. I just wanted to die. So I want the leaders to understand that they have to take responsibility – I'm just an ordinary person, and I just want my life back."

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Read more:

'I Still Can't Believe It When I See My Father Eating, Sleeping, and Wearing Warm Clothes'

'A Little More and You're Home': Kfar Azza's Fight for Its Last Hostages in Gaza

What Exactly Is In the Cease-fire/Hostage Deal On the Table?

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