Emily Damari, who was released in last week’s batch of hostages, asked her captors if Keith Siegel could be released in her place, according to a Friday N12 report.
Once Damari was informed that she was to be released and that Siegel, 65, was not going to be released with her, she reportedly asked her Hamas captors if he could be released in her place.
כשאמילי דמארי התבשרה שהיא עומדת להשתחרר, היא פנתה למחבלים, ביקשה להישאר בשבי ודרשה לשחרר את החטוף קית’ סיגל (בן 65) במקומה. המחבלים סירבו לבקשה@naimleee @DanyCushmaro pic.twitter.com/W36vDp3qkA
— החדשות – N12 (@N12News) January 24, 2025
The report indicated that this was likely due to Siegel being in worse condition than Damari.
Those holding Damari, however, did not have the power to grant her request, as the list of specific hostages to be released was approved by senior officials in the terror organization.
The report also revealed that Damari was held with Siegel, at least prior to her release, and presented new evidence confirming his survival, the most recent being a Hamas propaganda video released last April.
Damari gained attention after her release due to a striking wound she sustained on October 7, 2023, which resulted in the loss of two fingers.
Kieth Siegel’s abduction
Kieth Siegel was abducted by Hamas on October 7 from Kibbutz Kfar Aza and was driven into Gaza in his own car after Hamas hijacked the vehicle carrying him and his wife.
Keith’s wife, Aviva, was released in November of 2023 as part of the first hostage deal with Hamas.
Aviva has repeatedly spoken out against the ordeal they suffered in the tunnels under Gaza. She told The Jerusalem Report in August that the terrorists broke Keith’s ribs during the initial kidnapping.
She described how they had starved them and deprived them of water.
“They were so mean and brutal, eating in front of us and starving us,” she said. They didn’t give us any water.”
Siegel is one of two American-Israeli hostages expected to be released in the first phase of the hostage deal.
Danielle Greyman-Kennard and Lind Gradstein contributed to this report.
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