Wife of NC native and 4-year-old among first Americans released by Hamas
The wife of a North Carolina native who was abducted by Hamas on October 7 was released Sunday, along with two other Americans.
Senator Ted Budd (R-NC) announced that Adrienne "Aviva" Siegel, the wife of North Carolina native Keith Seigel, was released Sunday as part of a ceasefire agreement between Hamas and Israel.
The release marked the first successful release of an American hostage since the start of a truce between Israel and Hamas. In total, 17 hostages were released Sunday.
NC Democratic Rep. Kathy Manning spoke Nov. 30 about the Siegels after talking with their family members.
Manning said the Siegels have five grandchildren, and Keith Seigel grew up in Chapel Hill.
Manning said Keith moved to Israel as a young man, where he met his wife, Aviva.
She described family members' account of the morning the couple was taken hostage.
"On the morning of Oct. 7, they were having a quiet day at home when they were brutally attacked by Hamas terrorists who drove them into Gaza in their own car," Manning said. "After 51 days of grueling captivity, [Aviva] was finally released as part of a temporary cease fire."
Keith Siegel, 64, is still a hostage.
"I can't even imagine what she has gone through or the agony the entire family is going through waiting for their beloved Keith to be freed from captivity," Manning said.
On Nov. 27, Hanna Siegel, Aviva's niece, spoke about her aunt and uncle in an interview on the TODAY Show.
Raw video that aired on TODAY showed Aviva waving ecstatically from a bus carrying freed hostages as it entered Israel.
"She's alive and she's free," Hanna Siegel said. "We're waiting for a full physical and mental assessment, but that video that you showed, I love it because it makes me believe that her spirit is unbroken. She's waving and I think she's actually smiling, which is sort of incredible given the circumstances."
"We're ecstatic that she's home but it is a conflict of emotions because my Uncle Keith, her husband, is still being held," Hanna Siegel said. "This is the last day of the pause, and we are just hoping that he is released soon too."
The two moved to Israel decades ago to live on a kibbutz and raise a family together. The couple have lived for close to four decades at Kfar Aza, a kibbutz close to the frontier with Gaza.
Hanna Siegel said she was not sure if her aunt and uncle were able to stay together when they were taken as hostages.
"It is heartbreaking," she said. "We didn't know anything ... we saw my aunt and uncle taken, [because] there was a video. But after that, you have no idea where they are, what kind of conditions they're in. It is absolutely devastating."
Hanna Siegel thanked the U.S. and Israeli governments for their help in freeing hostages.
"We owe our deep, deep gratitude," she said. "Our message is really thank you, but also keep going. There are over 150 hostages, including Keith, that still need to be brought home. Israel called my cousins, their children, and let them know that she was set to be on the list yesterday, and we got together as a family virtually and that's how we learned. But being here in the U.S., my family has felt the relentless support of President Biden and his team working to get these folks home ... they have been in communication with us almost daily."
Budd met with Qatari Ambassador Mashal Al Thani on November 6 in Washington D.C. to urge the Qatari government to "use their leverage on Hamas leaders currently residing in Doha, Qatar." The ceasefire agreement was brokered by officials with the Qatari, United States and Egyptian governments.
"While we are encouraged by the government of Qatar's efforts to mediate the release of some of the hostages, we renew our call to their government to exert pressure on Hamas leadership to release each and every hostage immediately and unconditionally," Budd said.
An estimated 220 hostages are still being held by Hamas terrorists after the initial Oct. 7 attack – more than half of whom are from foreign nations.
"What we felt these past few days is hope in a real sense for the first time since all of this happened," Hanna Siegel said. "And it just shows that we can get every hostage home ... we stand committed with every other family member of every other hostage who is still being held. We have to bring them all home if possible. We have to do it."
Tal told WRAL News family and friends are optimistic about Keith Siegel's release now that his wife is free.
"There is great enthusiasm in the Siegel household and [we] hope that Keith will be among future releases. Aviva is out, I think, because she's a woman and a South African citizen," Tal said. "The sense from the video footage is that she was waving, smiling, [very,very] excited to be out. We can only hope that she wasn't abused terribly."
4-year-old released by Hamas
One of the 17 hostages released Sunday was 4-year-old Israeli-American Abigail Edan.
President Joe Biden welcomed Abigail’s release, saying in a speech from Nantucket, Massachusetts, that she is receiving love, care and “the supportive services she needs” and adding that he was “hopeful this is not the end of the temporary truce.”
Biden said the girl “has been through a terrible trauma.” Her mother was killed in front of her, the president said. She then ran to her father, Biden said, who used his body to shield his daughter and was killed.
“What she endured was unthinkable,” he said. Biden added that Abigail was now in Israel but said that he did not have details on her condition.
Biden said he would speak shortly with Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, saying the two would discuss implementation of the existing deal and efforts to extend it to bring additional hostages home.
News of Abigail’s release comes after national security adviser Jake Sullivan told CNN’s Dana Bash that the Biden administration had “reason to believe” one of the Americans held hostage would be released Sunday.
“We’re dealing with Hamas. We are in a ‘don’t trust, but verify’ situation here. And so we have reason to believe that there will be an American release today,” Sullivan said on “State of the Union.”
“Today should be a good day, a joyful day, but until we actually see it happen, we are going to remain really at the edge of our seat,” Sullivan said.
Two American women who are unaccounted for are also expected to be part of the group of 50 women and children hostages released as part of a four-day truce, now in its third day.
“She turned 4 just two days ago,” Sullivan said of Edan. “She has been through hell. She had her parents killed right in front of her and has been held hostage for the last several weeks.”
No Americans were released as part of the deal on Friday or Saturday. There are 10 Americans who are unaccounted for at this time.
Twenty-four hostages – including 13 Israeli civilians and 11 foreign nationals – were freed on Friday, followed by 17 more – 13 Israelis and four Thai nationals – on Saturday as part of the brokered deal between Hamas and Israel. All 41 foreign nationals released by Hamas from captivity in Gaza are stable, according to medical professionals.
Sullivan said that it is difficult to know the true status of the Americans who were taken captive in Gaza during Hamas’ brutal cross-border assault on October 7.
“We cannot say for certain whether all three of them are still alive. But we do know this: We have reason to believe that today, one American will be released,” he said.
Omer Neutra, a dual US-Israeli citizen, is among the Israel Defense Forces soldiers kidnapped by Hamas, his parents have told CNN. Sullivan said he has been “candid” with Neutra’s parents and the parents of other American hostages.
“I told them directly … that we do not know the specific whereabouts or condition of Omer or other Americans because until the end of this deal, until the end of tomorrow we will not have, from the Red Cross, proof of life or other information. … So, as we learn that information, we will absolutely share it with the parents,” Sullivan said.
Sullivan also spoke about Hamas agreeing to allow the Red Cross to visit the remaining hostages in Gaza and said the US is leaning on Qatari and Egyptian officials to ensure that happens by the end of Monday.
“We do believe that Hamas has obliged to maintain its part of the commitment on Red Cross visitation of the hostages and we expect Qatar and Egypt and other countries to hold Hamas accountable to hold that commitment by the end of tomorrow,” Sullivan said.
Sullivan said Israel is prepared to extend the pause in fighting in exchange for Hamas releasing 10 hostages each day, adding, “The ball is really in Hamas’ court.”
“If Hamas wants to see an extension of the pause in fighting, it can continue to release hostages,” Sullivan said. “If it chooses not to release hostages, then the end of the pause is its responsibility, not Israel’s, because it is holding these hostages completely illegitimately and against all bounds of human decency or the laws of war, so really we will see what Hamas ends up choosing to do.”
While Israeli officials work to care for the released hostages and reunite them with their families, Sullivan said, they will also look to glean any information about Hamas in hostage debriefings on their time in captivity.
“Israel is focused on learning anything it can about whereabouts, locations and other information based on conversations they have with the released hostages in the days ahead,” he said.
Humanitarian aid into Gaza
Sullivan also detailed some of the inspection mechanisms involved with getting humanitarian aid into Gaza.
Before aid goes into the Rafah crossing into Gaza, Sullivan said, it is checked by Israelis “to make sure that it is in fact humanitarian supplies and not goods that could help Hamas in its military campaign.”
The aid trucks then go to United Nations depots and other humanitarian organizations that, he said, are “vetted and trusted partners.”
From there, he said, the aid is “distributed directly to the people.”
“As humanitarian assistance has ramped up, we’ve seen it work – that it’s actually getting to people and that it’s not being diverted into the hands of Hamas,” Sullivan said.
The United Nations said Friday that 137 trucks carrying aid, including 129,000 liters of fuel and four trucks of gas, were offloaded in Gaza on the first day of the pause, marking the largest humanitarian convoy to enter the strip since October 7. Another 70 trucks carrying food, water, fuel and medical supplies entered Gaza through the Rafah crossing on Saturday, according to a border crossing spokesperson.
Biden is in “close touch” with Israel and UN leadership to ensure “the aid is getting to where it belongs, which is the innocent people who are suffering.”
Sullivan declined to weigh in on Israeli politics, but said Biden’s engagement with Israel Prime Minister Netanyahu “has paid dividends.”
“He’s going to continue to focus on that high level direct leader to leader diplomacy and leave others to determine the politics, the political considerations,” Sullivan said.
This story has been updated with additional developments.
The-CNN-Wire™ & © 2023 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.
