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As President Trump floats America taking control of Gaza and rebuilding it, more exchanges of Israeli hostages and Palestinian detainees are planned this weekend. One of those released last weekend is an American. Keith Siegel is getting a taste of life as a free man after 484 days in the hands of the Palestinian militant group, Hamas. NPR's Jerome Socolovsky spoke to Siegel's brother about how he survived captivity.
JEROME SOCOLOVSKY, BYLINE: A man with a short white beard and a gentle demeanor sits in the lobby of the Ichilov Hospital in Tel Aviv. It was here that Lee Siegel was reunited with his 65-year-old younger brother last Saturday.
LEE SIEGEL: We're still getting used to the idea that I walked through those doors and he's back.
SOCOLOVSKY: Lee recalls the moment Keith's daughters first saw him and sang.
UNIDENTIFIED DAUGHTERS: (Singing in Hebrew).
SOCOLOVSKY: Here comes our father. And then, with their mother, Aviva, the family embraced. At that moment, Lee Siegel had no words.
SIEGEL: But seeing him hugging the children and hugging Aviva in the hospital, just joy and love.
SOCOLOVSKY: Keith Siegel and other hostages released since the ceasefire in Gaza last month have not spoken in public, but some family members have started to pass along bits and pieces of what their loved ones went through. There are stories of desolation and suffering, but also of strength and resolve.
SIEGEL: Keith is exceptionally resilient.
SOCOLOVSKY: And he has an amazing memory, his seven-years-older brother says. He never lost track of which day it was, where he was, or whom he was with. Speaking was not allowed, so Lee says his brother would have conversations in his mind.
SIEGEL: He would talk to me. He would talk to our sons. He would talk to Aviva. He would talk to their children. He would talk to his sister-in-law, Aviva's twin sister.
SOCOLOVSKY: And other people he cared about. Lee says Keith spent long periods in isolation, and he got moved around a lot. All this while Israel and Hamas were at war and deprivation and destruction in Gaza were widespread. Wherever Keith was taken, there was no electricity, and food was scarce. He lost a lot of weight.
SIEGEL: And when I hear people say that he looks frail and he's pale, I want to scream out loud. He's almost 500 days a hostage in Gaza. Of course he's frail. Of course he's pale.
SOCOLOVSKY: On top of that, he was taunted, told his kibbutz and Israel no longer exist. Later in the war, Keith Siegel picked up snippets of news here and there. He realized the taunts were false, and he saw Israelis and people around the world calling for the hostages to be freed.
SIEGEL: He's flabbergasted by the fact that so many people were so, so, so active outside of Israel, trying to push and open whatever doors we could open.
SOCOLOVSKY: Lee says his brother is still trying to wrap his head around his transformation from subjugation to celebrity.
SIEGEL: President Trump wants to speak with me? He wants to speak with me?
SOCOLOVSKY: But one thing his brother says he is sure of - although his family wants him to focus on his recovery, Keith Siegel wants to find out what he can do to help the remaining 79 hostages return.
Jerome Socolovsky, NPR News, Tel Aviv.
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