by Hamas gunmen on 7 October, the couple’s four children sat down with their own children, aged three to nine, to try to explain the calamity that had fallen on their grandparents.
The Siegels, aged 64 and 62, woke up to the sound of sirens on the morning of 7 October. Grabbing a phone, they rushed to their safe room in their pyjamas, expecting to be there for 10 minutes or so. The couple have lived at Kfar Aza, a kibbutz close to the frontier with Gaza, for almost 40 years and they were “used to rockets and missiles flying about”, said Baron.
Later, the Israeli authorities confirmed to the family that the couple were among 220 people being held hostage in Gaza. The release of four hostages in the past few days has given some hope to the Siegel family. “Four people have come out alive, but that’s out of 220. We need to act faster, we need to do more. And the abductions were done by many groups – the story of one hostage doesn’t necessarily apply to others.