Released hostage Keith Siegel shared new details about the conditions of his captivity in a conversation with Channel 12 on Thursday evening.

Siegel, who was held together with IDF soldier Matan Angrest, who is still in captivity, said, among things, that their captors tried to convince the hostages to convert to Islam.

“There were attempts to convert us to Islam,” he said. “According to them, whoever is not Muslim goes to hell and only Muslims go to heaven.”

He added: “Matan spoke a lot about his longing to spend more time with his family when he returns from captivity and less with his PlayStation. I think they tried to extract information from Matan about his role [in the army]. Matan did everything he could not to reveal classified things. He told very difficult things that he went through. I saw violence towards Matan, physical and verbal violence.”

“Matan and I were literally starving. This is not some figurative expression. There were times when we really felt physically and mentally that there was a chance that we wouldn’t get out of there alive at all, because of all kinds of threats that were there – one of them was a shortage of food and daily hunger for a long time. It caused dizziness, vertigo, and weakness, and I’m sure he still experiences it today.”

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)