‘Keith is home. We can all breathe again.’

South African-born Aviva Siegel is “smiling from ear to ear” now that she has been reunited with her beloved husband, Keith, 65, who was released from Hamas captivity after 484 brutal days in hell.

“I can breathe again, Keith is home,” she told the SA Jewish Report. “I feel like a different person.”

Her American-Israeli husband of more than 40 years was kidnapped by Hamas terrorists from their home in Kibbutz Kfar Aza alongside her on 7 October 2023. She was released on 26 November 2023 as part of a truce brokered by Qatar and Egypt after 51 days in Hamas captivity.

For more than a year, she campaigned tirelessly for Keith’s return, participating in rallies, speaking before government officials, and calling on world leaders to secure the release of all hostages. She travelled abroad, meeting former United States President Joe Biden and other high-level officials to press for more diplomatic efforts. “I will never stop fighting until all our people are home,” she said.

Keith was finally released on Saturday, 1 February 2025, reuniting with his close-knit family in an emotional moment that ended a nearly 16-month-long nightmare.

The South African-born grandmother has become a symbol of resilience, an unrelenting campaigner for the hostages, and a voice for those who couldn’t speak for themselves. But at her core, she is a woman who simply refused to accept a future without the man she fell hopelessly in love with as a teenager in Israel.

Their love story is one that defies the horrors of war. It’s also a story that has touched the South African Jewish community.

Addressing a press conference at the Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center, Aviva said, “For me, to see Keith with us, living, breathing, eating, smiling, being emotional, is the most amazing, hugest, most unbelievable thing.”

“We are on cloud nine,” Sheli Siegel, Aviva’s sister-in-law, told the SA Jewish Report. “It’s like pinch me, pinch me!”

Sheli, originally from Johannesburg, is married to Keith’s brother, Lee Siegel. She described the past year as “agonising”, with the family living in “constant dread”.

“Every time the phone rang, we thought – is it bad news? Had something happened? We feared the worst.

“Aviva, who was raised in Randfontein with her twin sister, Fiona Wax, and their younger sister, Sandy Feldman, is finally happy,” Sheli said.

Since his release, Keith has been surrounded by his closest family at Ichilov Hospital, where an entire floor has been set aside for the Siegel family and one other hostage family.

“Aviva and the girls and hospital staff are attending to all his needs doing what Jewish mothers and grandmothers do best: fattening him up,” said Sheli, “It’s ‘ess ess mein kind’ [eat, eat my child].”

His five grandchildren have visited together with other members of the family, each taking turns at his bedside so as not to overwhelm him.

“Keith has come home as Keith – the same warm, loving, sweet man, full of compassion and kindness,” Sheli said.

Keith insisted on walking out of captivity and not being wheeled, she said. After hundreds of days of deprivation, “he stepped out on his own two feet, a symbolic act of resilience”.

Aviva, who had fought so hard for his return, was the one to break the hard news that his 97-year-old mother had passed away while he was in captivity. She told him in the helicopter shortly after his release.

“Hamas terrorists forced Keith to write them a detailed thank you letter while holding him captive,” his family said in a statement. “This is just one example of many that demonstrates Hamas’s cruel and cynical behaviour, and highlights the urgency of bringing all the remaining hostages home.”

During his handover to the Red Cross, he appeared thin and pale, but was able to walk, surrounded by masked and armed Hamas fighters. He was forced to accept two Hamas “gift bags” and a lanyard around his neck with a Palestinian flag and the insignia of Hamas’s Al-Qassam Brigades. He was also forcibly paraded on a Hamas stage in front of a banner proclaiming “Nazi Zionism will not win.”

He told his loved ones that food was extremely scarce while in captivity, and that though he is a vegetarian, he occasionally ate meat products that were given to him in order to survive.

Keith’s daughter, Shir, told a press conference that her father was held in inhumane conditions. He barely saw daylight, was starved, and was held in solitude for periods at a time.

He has been informed of the devastation in Kfar Aza and the names of 60-plus neighbours and friends who lost their lives on 7 October 2023.

Aviva credited US President Donald Trump for his role in Keith’s return. “Your brave actions have brought Keith back to us. From the bottom of my heart, thank you. But our journey isn’t over. You are our hope for those still in captivity.”

She also acknowledged the Israeli government’s efforts, calling on leaders to complete the mission. “I trust you to see this deal through because it’s the road to healing for all of us.”

Reflecting on their ordeal, Aviva recalled the darkness of her own captivity and the fight to bring Keith home. “Keith endured almost 16 months of this nightmare. Now, we can start to heal. But, we must not rest; we must not turn away. The 79 hostages still in Gaza deserve better. Until they are all home, none of us can truly be at peace.”