Israeli hostages were forced to watch as Hamas raped and tortured women being held captive in Gaza, a freed hostage has revealed.
Keith Siegel, who is 65 years old, was forcefully taken with his wife Aviva from their home in Kibbutz Nir Oz during an attack on Israel by Hamas on October 7, 2023.
He described the terrifying experience of struggling to breathe and feeling like their lives were in danger as they were abducted and taken to Gaza in a vehicle, and then through a tunnel by armed militants.
However, the nightmare continued as they were held captive, with Siegel recounting to CBS News’ 60 Minutes how he was subjected to physical violence, starvation, and forced to witness brutal acts by the terrorists against other hostages.
‘I witnessed a young woman who was being tortured by the terrorists. I mean literal torture, not just in the figurative sense,’ he said. ‘I saw sexual assault with female hostages.’
Yarden Bibas, whose young sons Ariel and Kfir become a symbol of Israeli suffering in the war, echoed the terror that Siegel endured and claimed that his captors repeatedly taunted him over his family’s fate.
‘They were murdered in cold blood. Bare hands,’ he said of his wife Shiri, four-year-old Ariel and baby Kfir, adding: ‘[Hamas] used to tell me “It doesn’t matter. You’ll get a new wife, new kids. Better wife, better kids”.’
Bibas has also called on US President Donald Trump to bring an end to the war in Gaza, claiming that Trump is ‘the only one’ who can convince Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Hamas to halt the renewed fighting.
Keith Siegel, 65, says he was forced to watch as Hamas raped and tortured women being held captive in Gaza. ‘I saw sexual assault with female hostages,’ he told 60 Minutes yesterday
Yarden Bibas – whose sons Ariel, 4, and Kfir, 10 months, become a symbol of Israeli suffering in the war – says Hamas told him ‘you’ll get a better wife and kids’ when his family were murdered. Bibas (left) is pictured with his wife Shiri (right) and their sons Ariel and Kfir
Bibas on Sunday gave his first media interview since being freed in a ceasefire last month. He revealed that as a hostage he was mostly held in Hamas’ underground tunnels and that the Israeli strikes were terrifying.
‘It’s scary. You don’t know when it’s gonna happen, and when it happens, you are afraid for your life,’ he said. ‘Everything could collapse at any moment.’
He learned upon his release that Shiri and his sons had been killed in captivity in Gaza.
Ariel and Kfir Bibas had been ‘brutally murdered’ in captivity in November 2023, the Israeli military said after carrying out forensic checks on their remains. Officials say Hamas killed the brothers ‘with their bare hands’. The boys would have been aged 4 and 10 months respectively at the time.
Hamas late last month handed over the body of an unknown person in place of Shiri.
The terror group claim the remains of Shiri appear to have been mixed with another woman’s remains buried alongside her in the rubble after an alleged Israeli airstrike hit where she was being held.
Yarden Bibas has now urged Trump to ‘Please stop the war and help bring all the hostages back.’
Yarden Bibas (pictured Sunday during his first media interview since being freed in a ceasefire last month) also called on US President Donald Trump to bring an end to the war in Gaza, claiming that Trump is ‘the only one’ who can convince Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Hamas to halt the renewed fighting
Keith Siegel (pictured embracing his wife Aviva after his release last month) claimed that hostages were permitted to shower once monthly using a bucket of cold water and a small cup. Hamas also shaved the heads and genital regions of their male captives, Siegel claimed, revealing how he ‘felt humiliated’
Keith Siegel, who was freed alongside Bibas last month, alleged his circumstances in captivity worsened after his wife Aviva was released during the first temporary ceasefire in 2023.
‘The terrorists became very mean and very cruel and violent. Much more so. They were beating me and starving me,’ he told 60 Minutes, noting that the terrorists would eat in front of him without offering any food.
He claimed that hostages were permitted to shower once monthly using a bucket of cold water and a small cup.
Hamas also shaved the heads and genital regions of their male captives, Siegel claimed, revealing that he ‘felt humiliated’.
He told the programme how he felt ‘completely dependent’ on his captors and suggested they used that dependency to ‘torture me in a psychological way’.
Siegel noted that Hamas had left him alone on several occasions, which would leave him feeling ‘very, very scared that maybe they won’t come back’.
He said he would ask himself ‘Should I try to escape?’ but noted that even his captors knew ‘I wouldn’t dare to do that because I needed them’.
The freed hostage, who broke down in tears as he gave his interview, added that even after his release he spends most of his time worrying about the hostages that are still being held captive in Gaza.
An area hit by the Israeli army’s attacks on various regions of Gaza on the second day of Eid al-Fitr, on March 31, 2025 in Khan Yunis, Gaza
Palestinian children salvage items from the rubble of a house that was destroyed in an Israeli airstrike in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on March 31, 2025
Israel has proposed an extended truce in Gaza in exchange for the return of about half the remaining hostages, Israeli officials said today, as the military issued new evacuation orders and said ‘intense operations’ were planned in the south of the enclave.
The latest proposals would leave open a final agreement over ending the Israel-Hamas war that has destroyed wide swathes of Gaza, killed tens of thousands of people and displaced almost the entire population since it began in October 2023.
But the proposals foresee the return of half the 24 hostages believed still to be alive in Gaza nearly 18 months after they were seized by Hamas-led gunmen – and about half the 35 assumed to be dead – during a truce lasting between 40 and 50 days, said the Israeli officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Netanyahu said Sunday that Israel would step up pressure on Hamas but would continue negotiations ‘under fire’. Continued military pressure was the best means of securing the return of the hostages, he said.
The Prime Minister also repeated Israeli demands for Hamas to disarm although the terrorist group has rejected such calls as a ‘red line’ it will not cross.
Netanyahu said Hamas leaders would be allowed to leave Gaza under a wider settlement that would include proposals from Trump for the ‘voluntary emigration’ of Palestinians from the narrow Strip.
On Monday, the Israeli military told Palestinians living in areas around the southern city of Rafah to relocate to Al Mawasi, an area on the shoreline.
‘The IDF (Israel Defence Forces) is returning to intense operations to dismantle the capabilities of the terrorist organisations in these areas,’ the military’s spokesperson said in a statement.
Members of the Palestine Red Crescent and other emergency services carry bodies of fellow rescuers killed a week earlier by Israeli forces, during a funeral procession at Nasser hospital in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on March 31, 2025
Smoke billows from an Israeli strike at Bureij camp in the central Gaza Strip, on March 27, 2025
Hamas said at the weekend that it had accepted proposals made by Qatari and Egyptian mediators which security sources said would entail five hostages being released every week in exchange for a truce.
The Israeli military, which has cut off aid to Gaza, resumed operations on March 18 after a two-month truce, during which 33 Israeli hostages and five Thais were released in exchange for around 2,000 Palestinian prisoners and detainees.
Efforts to move to a second phase in the ceasefire agreement signed with US backing in January have largely stalled, with no sign of movement to overcome fundamental differences between the two sides over the postwar future.
Israel has said Hamas’ military and government capacity must be entirely dismantled and says the group, which has controlled Gaza since 2007, can have no role in the future governance of the enclave.
Hamas says it is willing to step back to allow another Palestinian administration to take its place but has refused to disarm and says it must play a part in choosing whatever government follows.
Israel launched its campaign in Gaza following an attack by Hamas-led gunmen on southern Israeli communities on October 7, 2023 in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 taken as hostages into Gaza, according to Israeli tallies.
The military campaign has killed more than 50,000 Palestinians, according to Palestinian health authorities.
