Freed Hostages Speak Out: “Time Is Critical” To Save Those Still Held In Gaza

 

Nearly four months after his release, Keith Siegel is haunted by the memories of 484 days in Hamas captivity — and by thoughts of the hostages who remain trapped in Gaza’s tunnels.

“It haunts me daily,” said Siegel, a dual US-Israeli citizen. “Everything that they’re experiencing is very difficult for me to think about. I can’t get those thoughts out of my mind.”

Siegel isn’t just reflecting on the physical and psychological abuse he endured, or the malnutrition and suffocating underground conditions. He’s deeply afraid that Israel’s ongoing military offensive will either kill the remaining hostages or push Hamas to execute them.

Since the October 7, 2023 attacks, 251 people have been taken hostage by Hamas and other militant groups. As the conflict passes the 600-day mark, 58 hostages are still believed to be in captivity — some alive, others possibly not.

In Israel, the pressure is growing. Demonstrators have blocked roads in Tel Aviv and gathered in Hostage Square and outside the US embassy to demand a deal that would bring the hostages home and end the war.

For former hostage Omer Shem Tov, one of the last to be freed before the ceasefire collapsed in March, survivor’s guilt is suffocating.

“Every time I eat, I think about the hostages not eating. Every time I shower, I know they cannot,” said Shem Tov, 22. “I feel like I’m being choked.”

Shem Tov and Siegel are now at the forefront of the movement to free those still held. Their advocacy has become deeply personal — a mission they feel obligated to carry out.

“I will fight for my family,” said Shem Tov. “They’re going through hell. And time is critical.”

Surveys show the majority of Israelis support a ceasefire deal to free the hostages. But it’s the voices of survivors like Siegel and Shem Tov that resonate most powerfully.

“The hostages’ lives are now more critical than eliminating Hamas,” Shem Tov said.

Siegel has used his time since release to highlight the horrors of captivity and raise awareness about those left behind. Speaking from his daughter’s home in northern Israel, he appears physically stronger — but his thoughts remain with the two men he was held with: 22-year-old soldier Matan Angrest and 48-year-old father-of-two Omri Miran.

“I think about them every day. Many times a day,” said Siegel. “And I worry about them — and I miss them.”

Siegel and Miran spent nearly five months together in captivity. They passed the time bonding over music, sharing family stories, and encouraging each other. Miran often spoke of his two daughters, Alma and Ronni.

“It was very difficult for Omri to think about missing their growing-up, their development milestones,” Siegel recalled.

In a hostage video released by Hamas last month, Miran addressed Siegel directly. Siegel said he barely recognized him. “He looked like a different person… in a negative way.”

With Angrest, Siegel shared a small room and a single bed for 67 days. They prayed for rescue by the Israeli military — until August, when they learned that Hamas had executed six hostages as Israeli troops closed in.

“I was afraid that the IDF might try to rescue me and that I might be killed by the captors,” said Siegel. “It’s something that worries me in regards to the hostages that are still there.”

Siegel believes Israel’s intensifying operations are increasing the risks to the remaining hostages — despite military assurances to the contrary.

“Hostages were killed from the war,” he said. “This can be avoided by getting all of the hostages back. That’s the solution — to reach an agreement.”

Shem Tov shares those fears. He described the bombing raids as the most terrifying moments in captivity.

“I was scared of dying from my own people, from my own brothers,” he said.

Both men have met with global leaders, including US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, urging action. While Netanyahu has prioritized military goals over a hostage deal, the former hostages are placing their hopes in Trump.

“I am home because of his efforts,” Siegel said. “I believe that he wants to do this and it’s important to him. I ask him to do whatever he can — and to do it as soon as possible.”

Shem Tov echoed that belief, saying Trump personally told him during a March meeting in the Oval Office, “You have a good future ahead of you.”

During his captivity, Shem Tov lost more than 50 pounds and often survived on just one biscuit a day. But he noticed a change in treatment after Trump’s election. He began receiving more food, and the verbal abuse from guards stopped.

“They stopped cursing me, stopped spitting on me,” he said. The captors, he added, often talked politics — and expressed hope that Kamala Harris would win the US presidency.

But once Trump was elected, everything changed.

“As soon as Donald Trump was elected, they understood that he wants to bring the hostages back home,” Shem Tov said.