Aviva Siegel, who was kidnapped by Hamas terrorists on October 7 and released in a November 2023 prisoner swap deal, on Saturday spoke to the Wall Street Journal, providing previously-unknown details on how Hamas coaches the hostages to create videos which will exert maximum psychological pressure on the viewers.
Siegel was kidnapped together with her husband Keith from their home in Kibbutz Kfar Aza. Keith is still held hostage in Gaza.
Speaking to WSJ, Siegel explained that she was forced to speak in front of the camera three times, and was filmed while she was eating at least twice.
She told the Wall Street Journal that she was held in 13 locations, including in tunnels where it was difficult for her to breathe, that she was deprived of food and water, and that she was "taunted" by her captors.
Under these conditions, she found it difficult to stay on script, but the camera crew, which included someone who spoke Hebrew, was "quick to remind her of her lines."
"'You didn’t say that you’re 62.' 'You didn’t say that you’re from Kfar Aza.' 'You didn’t say that Bibi needs to bring you back,'" she recalled her captors saying. "Bibi" is the nickname of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
She added, "I always forgot something. So I had to say it again and again and again."
Siegel also said that her captors "used to make food and put it on the table. We had to sit next to them and smile and say everything is OK, just for the picture."
Once, a terrorist attempted to make Siegel brush her hair, which had become full of knots. When she refused, he tried to get her to put her hair in a clip, which she also refused to do.
She explained to WSJ, "I knew what I looked like. I was disgusting. I was so dirty. I looked at him, and I picked my hair up, and I said, 'beautiful.' A couple of hours later, he told me to come into the other room and that they were going to take a picture of me. So I understood that he wanted me to look better while taking the pictures."
According to WSJ, Hamas ordered those terrorists holding hostages to take frequent photos and videos, and the raw material is kept in a large archive to be shared by teams outside Gaza for the purpose of applying pressure on Israel and attacking Netanyahu.
Production of hostages videos can be considered a war crime under international law.
Arab intermediaries told WSJ that Qatar and Egypt have tried to stop Hamas from releasing any videos of children who were taken as hostages.
Released hostages told WSJ that the text of the videos was "scripted" and that the video-taking began during the early days of the war.
Chen Almog-Goldstein, who was taken hostage on October 7 and released with her children during the November 2023 deal, told WSJ that they were filmed in the tunnels on their second day in Gaza, and that the Hamas terrorists placed snacks into her children's hands. That video was never released, however.
Gershon Baskin, an Israeli hostage negotiator who helped broker a previous prisoner exchange with Hamas in 2011, told WSJ, "Hamas wants this war to end, and this is how they think that pressure can be put on Netanyahu."
"I think that they have an enormous impact on Israeli society, and that’s what they’re aiming to do," he added, referring to both Hamas and its videos.