Released hostage Keith Siegel’s siblings say their brother tracked calendar to stay sane

Released hostage Keith Siegel’s three siblings are in awe of their youngest brother’s ability to remain positive through 15 months of captivity, including a total of six months when he was held alone by his Hamas captors.

Siegel, who was freed on February 1, was also kept alone for the last two months of his captivity, and would repeat the day of the week, date and the number of days of his captivity to himself multiple times a day during every one of the 484 days he was a hostage, his siblings told The Times of Israel.

“His strategy was to stay within himself as much as possible,” added Lee Siegel, Keith’s oldest brother who lives in Kibbutz Gezer. “He found his strategy to keep anchored, what number day it was, who he was with, and repeat it and repeat it.”

Over the last 15 months, while Keith was kept hostage by Hamas, his three siblings buried and sat shiva for their mother, Gladys Siegel, 97, and two of the siblings each married off a child.

Keith’s sister, Lucy Siegel, said that she hopes that now that they’re together again, they’ll have time to grieve together as siblings, in addition to all the other conversations they’ve been having.

“I hope before I leave that it will feel appropriate that Keith will want to talk about that,” said Lucy Siegel, who traveled from Durham, North Carolina to reunite with her brother. “We’re taking Keith’s lead about what he wants to talk about, even if it’s stories from a long time ago, stories from our childhood, lots of different things.”

During the last week, they’ve spent much of their time hugging and talking, said the siblings in a conversation with The Times of Israel, listening to Keith describe his days in captivity, while also regaling one another and anyone who will listen, to stories of their childhood.

“We’re reminiscing and recounting stories told repeatedly over decades,” said David Siegel, who arrived Friday in Israel from his home in Rochester, New York. “Our mom’s in all the stories. It feels good and familiar, and it’s reassuring to be having normal conversations. Keith isn’t just listening, he’s number one in the recall department.”

The siblings reflected on what they’ve heard so far from their brother, including that he was moved 33 times during his time in captivity.

Keith Siegel was often kept in darkness, with windows covered and told to lay on the floor with his eyes closed and in silence. To remain sane, Siegel would repeat the day of the week, date and the number of days of his captivity to himself several times a day during every day he was a hostage, said his siblings.

He was also kept hostage with different people, “and you don’t get to choose who you’re kept captive with or your captors,” said older brother Lee Siegel.

Siegel told his family that on day 205 he heard his daughter Elan being interviewed in Hebrew on an Arabic radio broadcast being listened to by a captor, which is how he found out that his son Shai was alive, and not killed in Kibbutz Kfar Aza on October 7, as he’d feared.

“He could tell us if there was a dog in a house where he was staying and whether the dog had a name,” said David Siegel. “He just had a lot of focus and concentration, and he recited details throughout the day to himself to keep aware of what day [and place] it was.”

Lucy Siegel said that Keith speaks a lot about how he would hold imaginary conversations with each of his family members.

“Every day he would talk to each of us. He would talk to Mom and then Aviva and then each of his four kids and his grandchildren and we have a big family, so each of us, and our spouses and children,” said Lucy Siegel. “This was part of his daily routine to stay grounded.”

Their brother’s ability to retain information and share descriptions of where he was kept captive feels extraordinary to his family.

“It’s hard to imagine that level of intuition and resilience,” said David Siegel. “I’m a worrier, and in the midst of my worries were how much would he be like himself, and what his recovery would be like. We know there’s lots of recovery but we’ve had lots of conversations.”

All three siblings agree that their brother is entirely coherent, and in better shape than they expected.

“Sometimes he looks for words, but it could be because Arabic comes first,” said Lee Siegel.

As their brother regains his appetite and has decided to return to a vegan diet — Keith had been a vegetarian when he was taken hostage and tried to heed that diet as a captive, although sometimes had to break it to survive — he’s been “chowing down,” said Lee Siegel.

“He’s craving tofu,” said Lucy Siegel. “He’s had it for breakfast, lunch and dinner.”

They chuckled a bit about how much diet is a topic of conversation for them, given that their father was a professor of maternal and child health and their mother was a nurse.

Health and diet was always a major subject at family dinners — where the drink of choice was powdered skim milk.

“So diet is still a topic of conversation,” said Lee Siegel.

It’s been a long 15 months for all of them, said Lee, who has been part of the struggle to bring home his brother and sister-in-law since October 7, first with his nieces and nephew, and then with his sister-in-law, Aviva Seigel, once she was released from captivity in November 2023.

Lee Siegel recounted last Saturday, as he waited with Keith and Aviva’s daughters in the country’s center, while Aviva Siegel and her son, Shai, were at Kibbutz Re’im, waiting for Keith to cross over into Israel.

They waited with the Calderon and Bibas families whose loved ones, Ofer Calderon and Yarden Bibas, were released hours before Siegel.

“We were waiting and waiting and waiting for Keith,” said Lee Siegel.

It wasn’t until Keith, Aviva and Shai Siegel were in the IDF helicopter, traveling to the hospital, that Lee Siegel and his nieces spoke to Keith on the phone and saw his face.

“Then it was real, real, real,” said Lee Siegel.

It wasn’t until he hugged his brother, said Siegel, that he felt a release in his body.

“Everyone says I look different now,” he said, smiling.

As his brother’s health improves, Lee said his brother keeps asking what he can do to help bring the remaining 76 hostages home.

It’s a common topic in Kfar Maccabiah, the hotel complex in the country’s center, situated near the hospital and where other hostage families are also staying.

“There’s a camaraderie as we all share experiences,” said Lee Siegel. “But yesterday, as we all watched the three hostages come home, the atmosphere was heavy,” given the emaciated, gaunt condition of all three men.

Lee Siegel said that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu needs to move into phase two of the hostage deal, or just bring all the hostages home in the current, first phase.

“He is again inventing a narrative that is totally irrelevant,” said Siegel. “Get them all back and stop the politics.”