A former Hamas hostage who was released after weeks in captivity during a temporary pause in fighting last year accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of “forgetting” those in Gaza — as he shifts his campaign to the destruction of the militant group.
Aviva Siegel, in an interview with NBC News’s Molly Hunter on Thursday, argued Netanyahu was “thinking about himself more than thinking about us,” said Siegel, 62.
Siegel wants the Israeli leader to “stop the war” and pivot his focus on bringing other hostages home, including her Israeli American husband, Keith Siegel.
“I think that Netanyahu has forgotten about Keith and forgotten to be human and bring the human people back,” she said Thursday.
Siegel was one of around 240 people taken hostage by Hamas on Oct. 7 after the militant group hit Israel in a surprise surprise attack that left around 1,200 Israelis dead.
Her comments come as Netanyahu unveiled a new plan for post-war rule of Gaza, where Israel will have indefinite security control. The plan contradicts the push to create an independent Palestinian state, a policy that the U.S. has supported.
His refusal to endorse a two-state solution has angered the Biden administration, which has pushed repeatedly for that plan along with a governing authority such as a revitalized Palestinian Authority, which governs the West Bank.
The prime minister rejected Hamas’s most recent proposal to free hostages kept in Gaza in exchange for a pause in fighting. Netanyahu called it “delusional” and assured that Israel would continue to wage its operation.
Siegel, during the interview, also added her concerns for the remaining 130 hostages held by Hamas — many of whom she said could be pregnant by the time they are rescued.
She recounted the way her husband had been treated by his captors.
“And he was so humiliated that when he came out he said he didn’t know what to do with himself because he felt like nobody, like nothing,” she said.
Since launching its counteroffensive in the region, more than 29,000 Palestinians have been killed, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.