'Our moment of victory' – daughter of Israeli hostages, Keith and Aviva Siegel, kept her promise to wait for them to be freed before getting married
“I won’t get married till you’re here,” promised Shir Siegel, in a message directed to her father Keith Siegel, who was held in Hamas captivity. After an agonizing wait, that moment finally came last Thursday, when her parents walked her down the aisle for her wedding day.
Shir’s parents, Keith and Aviva, were both captured from their home in Kfar Aza on Oct. 7, 2023, and held hostage by the Hamas terrorist group, along with 249 others. Aviva was released after 51 days, but it was a much longer and nerve-racking wait until Keith was finally free.
Before the attack, Shir was engaged to be married to Yuval Bar but vowed to wait until her parents were both there with her for the big day. In a recorded video, she told her father, “I see the moment that you are with me, alongside mom, under my chuppa,” adding, “this will be our moment of victory.”
Aviva and Keith Segal, who were freed from Hamas captivity, are walking their daughter Shir down the aisle.
— raz sauber - רז זאובר (@raz_sauber_) August 8, 2025
pic.twitter.com/V8i4WIJFpH
Keith Siegel was held captive in the Hamas terror tunnels for a total of 484 days – and returned a changed man. Both Keith and Aviva were socially-minded, caring, and charitable people, but living a secular life. Now Keith prays and makes sure he blesses his food every time he eats.
Shir and Yuval were married last week, on Aug. 7, the evening before Tu B’Av, Israel’s equivalent of Valentine’s Day.
“This is the image of victory,” she posted on Instagram, showing pictures of the joyful wedding, adding the words, “My wish came true.”
Social media posts with footage of the wedding show Shir dancing with former hostages Emily Damari, Liri Albag, Agam Berger and Amit Soussana. The latter three were all held together with Aviva while she was still in captivity.
קצת תקווה לפני שבת.
— yayafink (יאיא פינק) (@yayafink) August 8, 2025
לירי, עמית, אגם ואמילי רוקדות בחתונה של שיר סיגל.
עדיין אפשר להציל את אלון, עמרי, אביתר, דוד ואת כולם.
הם יכולים לרקוד בחתונה הבאה. pic.twitter.com/D2gjwxGMaG
The bride’s Instagram post was tempered with expressions of the communal longing for the remaining hostages to finally be released: “Hoping these moments will spread great light and bring everyone back home to us,” she wrote, and said, “When everyone will be home—that will be total victory.”
Jo Elizabeth has a great interest in politics and cultural developments, studying Social Policy for her first degree and gaining a Masters in Jewish Philosophy from Haifa University, but she loves to write about the Bible and its primary subject, the God of Israel. As a writer, Jo spends her time between the UK and Jerusalem, Israel.
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