Hamas releases video of a second American being held hostage in Gaza

By Willem Marx

Published April 27, 2024 at 3:39 PM EDT

Tal Wax holds a poster with a photograph of her uncle Keith Siegel, a hostage held in Gaza since the Oct. 7 attacks, during a press conference in Madrid, Spain, on Jan. 25.

Hamas has released a video showing footage of two captives held in Gaza, as part of an effort to prove that the two men are still alive.

One of the two hostages is a U.S. citizen, Keith Siegel, who is believed to be held in Gaza after he was reportedly abducted on Oct. 7 from his home in the community of Kfar Azza, close to the Gaza Strip.

It was one of several sites that militants entered to the east of Gaza on that day, when they killed more than 1,000 people and took hundreds of people hostage.

The video released by the militant group shows Siegel and another hostage, Omri Miran, who was reportedly taken from his own home in another community, a kibbutz called Nahal Oz.

In the video — which, like other hostage videos, was filmed under duress — Siegel says, "I want to tell my family that I love you very much."

He adds, "We are in danger here. There are explosions. It's stressful and frightening, and it's been going on for a very long time ..."

In the video, Miran also refers to explosions and says, "The situation here is not pleasant, it's tough." Both men urge the Israeli government to "reach a deal" to free the hostages.

Within hours of the video's release, Yuval Segev, a co-worker of Siegel's wife, was taking part in one of the frequent demonstrations that call upon Israeli authorities to help accelerate the release of the hostages.

Segev said Siegel's wife Aviva had last been in touch with her husband via message on the morning of Oct. 7.

"It was not a celebration," he told NPR in response to the video's release by Hamas on Saturday. "But it was a very optimistic moment to hear him."

Siegel's wife Aviva told NPR earlier this month that she had been released by Hamas after 51 days in captivity, and had not heard from Keith since then. She last saw him lying on a mattress.

"I hugged him," she told Morning Edition's Leila Fadel. "I told him, you please be strong for me, and I'll be strong for you."

Earlier this week, Hamas released another video appearing to show a statement by Hersh Goldberg-Polin, an American-Israeli man who was also kidnapped on Oct. 7.

NPR's Becky Sullivan contributed reporting from Tel Aviv, Israel.