Freed hostage Keith Sigel's daughter reveals: "Hamas wouldn't let my father get up; he lay on a a mattress most of the time"

Keith Siegel, released after 484 days in Hamas captivity, is trying to adjust to life outside the tunnels with his family. His daughter Shir revealed new details this morning in an interview with Keren Neubach on "Seder Yom" on Kan Reshet B about Keith's captivity and his shock upon returning home.

"Dad lost 30 kilos in captivity. His diet consisted mainly of pitas and fava beans, and he was severely dehydrated. His hearing deteriorated, his physical condition declined due to lack of movement, as he spent most of his time lying on a mattress, unable to move," Shir explained. "He couldn't move both because he was in small rooms and because they wouldn't let him get up."

Keith was confined in a small room for extended periods without the ability to leave. "There was one time they allowed him to open the window while he lay on the mattress all day, and he could see the sky. Just one day out of 487 days. He experienced very traumatic things. He wants to do everything he can so his friends there can return home like he did."

"No matter how I try to explain my father's experience - it would minimize it. It doesn't convey the suffering he endured second by second, minute by minute," Shir shared. "They moved my father between 33 locations, with guards - terrorists holding him - at almost every place. He was mostly kept uninformed. He saw Israeli television for a very limited time, and his hearing deteriorated because of the bombings, so he tried to understand what was happening through images alone."

Upon arriving in Israel, Keith was shocked by how prominent the hostage issue was in public discourse. "He's very surprised by everything happening here, he didn't know how many people were fighting for him and how many people come to the Hostages Square. He didn't know there was a square, he said 'What? People know my name?' That's what you think when terrorists tell you nobody cares about you and that you'll stay in Gaza forever."

"There's an illusion that they're okay when they return," Shir said, adding, "I want to focus on our power to bring these people home. People are very curious but they don't know what's happening there. Every moment is a matter of life and death. Dad experienced thousands of moments where he felt he was about to die. So we succeeded, and I just want to ask that we continue to be strong and believe that no one will break us - we can bring them home, it's not a dream."

About two weeks after his release, Keith Siegel addressed U.S. President Donald Trump, thanking him and asking him to work for the release of the remaining hostages. "When I was in Gaza, I lived in constant fear," Keith said in a video message to the American president. "I was starved and subjected to physical and mental torture. They kicked me, spat on me, and held me without water, light, or air. Thanks to you, I was reunited with my family. Put an end to the daily dangers the hostages face."