Chapel Hill couple among hostages held by Hamas in Israel, sources say

A Chapel Hill native and his wife are among more than 200 hostages from Israel being held by Hamas, sources tell WRAL News.

Keith Siegel, 64, moved to Israel decades ago to live on a kibbutz and raise a family with his wife, a kindergarten teacher.

The couple have lived for close to four decades at Kfar Aza, a kibbutz close to the frontier with Gaza.

Chapel Hill couple held captive: Hostages taken by Hamas from Israel, sources confirm

WRAL News spoke Friday with Durham native Alon Tal, a friend of Keith Seigel.

“I’m sure he faced fear and horror,” Tal said of Keigh Seigel. “I’m afraid also [of] physical abuse at the hands of diabolical terrorists."

Tal said he and Keith Seigel were childhood friends.

"Keith was about as gentle spirited, decent as a guy you ever met," Tal said of his friend. "A very kind person."

Tal is in Israel and grew up in the Triangle as well.

Tal believes the couple heard the sirens and ran into the safe room with their phones and then were smoked out of that room, or perhaps physically abused. He and so many others are awaiting word on their condition and hope for their release.

"Hopefully, he will be released and can tell that story directly," Tal said of Keith Seigel.

Rabbbi Eric Solomon from the Beth Meyer Synagogue in Raleigh and some of the synagogue's members are heading to Israel to meet with families to offer support.