Keith Siegel forced to write thank-you letter to Hamas captors ahead of release

Family of freed US-Israeli hostage says the terror group’s propaganda only ‘demonstrates Hamas’s cruel and cynical behavior’

Hamas gunmen flank Israeli-American hostage Keith Siegel before handing him over to a Red Cross team in Gaza City on February 1, 2025. (Omar Al-Qattaa / AFP)
Hamas gunmen flank Israeli-American hostage Keith Siegel before handing him over to a Red Cross team in Gaza City on February 1, 2025. (Omar Al-Qattaa / AFP)

Freed US-Israeli captive Keith Siegel was forced ahead of his release to write a letter thanking his Hamas captors for his treatment while being held in captivity for 484 days.

His family has asked that the letter he was forced by Hamas to write, dated January 18, not be published by the media.

“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 behavior, and highlights the urgency of bringing all remaining hostages back home.”

Siegel was released on Saturday in Gaza City. He and his wife, Aviva, were kidnapped from Kibbutz Kfar Aza on October 7, 2023. Aviva was freed during a weeklong ceasefire in November 2023.

During his handover to the Red Cross, he appeared thin and pale but was able to walk, aided 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 reportedly 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.

Released hostage Keith Siegel reunites with his three daughters at Tel Aviv’s Sourasky Medical Center (Ichilov Hospital) on February 1, 2025. (Israel Defense Forces)

Four female soldiers who were freed from captivity a week earlier were forced to film a Hamas propaganda video thanking their captors in Arabic for the treatment they received in captivity.

Ahead of the November 2023 truce, Hamas also forced released hostage Danielle Aloni, who was held captive with her 5-year-old daughter Emilia, to write a lengthy letter thanking the Hamas terrorists for “extraordinary humanity” while they were held hostage in Gaza.

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