WASHINGTON — First Lady Melania Trump will meet with freed American-Israeli hostage Keith Siegel and his wife, Aviva Siegel, on Wednesday at the White House.
The first lady will have a private, sit-down conversation with the Siegels in the White House&#8217;s Blue Room, where they will discuss how Hamas forcibly took the Siegels from their home in Kibbutz Kfar Aza on October 7, 2023, and held them hostage — Aviva Siegel for 51 days, and Keith Siegel for 484 days.
Aviva Siegel was released during the first hostage deal in November 2023. Hamas released her husband on February 1, 2025, during a ceasefire that was brokered by President Donald Trump before he even took office, following his wife&#8217;s meetings with both the president and first lady.
One of these meetings was included in the first lady&#8217;s new film, &#8220;Melania,&#8221; showing Melania Trump and Aviva Siegel sharing an emotional moment in Manhattan as they discuss the plight of Siegel&#8217;s husband. Melania Trump hugs Siegel as she weeps into her shoulder, and the first lady promises to pray for Keith Siegel, who was still in Hamas captivity at the time.
One of the final title cards in &#8220;Melania&#8221; states that the first lady &#8220;played a key role in securing the release of Keith Siegel after 484 days as a hostage in Gaza, just 12 days after the inauguration.&#8221;
&#8220;I will always use my influence and power to fight for those in need,&#8221; the first lady says in the documentary film.
Keith Siegel, 66, is a dual Israel-U.S. citizen who moved from Chapel Hill, North Carolina, to Israel in 1980. He is a father of four and a grandfather of five. He is an occupational therapist by trade and reportedly learned Arabic to communicate with the Gazans who worked in his kibbutz prior to Gazan civilians and Hamas massacring his neighbors.
<div id="attachment_1038181" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/melania-trump-to-meet-with-hamas-hostage-she-helped-bring-home/palestinian-israel-conflict-hostage" rel="attachment wp-att-1038181"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1038181" class="wp-image-1038181 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/GettyImages-2196440906-864x576.jpg" alt="" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/GettyImages-2196440906-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/GettyImages-2196440906-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/GettyImages-2196440906-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/GettyImages-2196440906.jpg 1024w" sizes=" (max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" /></a>Hamas fighters escort American-Israeli hostage Keith Siegel on a stage before handing him over to a Red Cross team in Gaza City on February 1, 2025, as part of the fourth hostage-prisoner exchange.  (Photo by OMAR AL-QATTAA/AFP via Getty Images)</div>
He is a vegetarian with a particular love for classic American breakfast pancakes, a rarity in Israel. After his release, a Keith Siegel’s Pancake House <a href="https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/article-847923">pop-up opened</a> in Tel Aviv, selling the same pancakes his family had made him known for while they campaigned for his freedom. During that time, the Hostages and Missing Families Forum compiled a cookbook featuring his pancake recipe, which he made for his family every Saturday morning.
His daughter later said she received hundreds of photos each weekend from people around Israel cooking her father’s pancakes. The proceeds from the pancake house went to helping the family get back on their feet.
Siegel opened up about the horrific conditions of his captivity last year in an interview with Lesley Stahl, claiming he witnessed Hamas terrorists sexually assaulting female hostages in front of him.
“I witnessed a young woman who was being tortured by the terrorists. I mean literal, you know, torture, not just in the figurative sense,” he said. “I saw sexual assault with female hostages.”
He was initially held with his wife, but following her release, Siegel said conditions became worse, and he was often beaten and starved.
In the interview, Siegel quickly put interviewer Lesley Stahl in her place after she asked if Hamas actually starved Siegel, or if the terrorists simply didn’t have food themselves.
“No, I think they starved me and they — they would often eat in front of me and not offer me food,” Siegel said.
Siegel also said that Hamas shaved all the men’s heads and genitals as a way to humiliate them.
“I think they thought it was maybe, it amused them or, you know, humiliating. I felt humiliated,” Siegel said.
<div id="attachment_1038183" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/melania-trump-to-meet-with-hamas-hostage-she-helped-bring-home/palestinian-israel-conflict-gaza-hostage" rel="attachment wp-att-1038183"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1038183" class="wp-image-1038183 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/GettyImages-2196449012-864x576.jpg" alt="" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/GettyImages-2196449012-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/GettyImages-2196449012-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/GettyImages-2196449012-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/GettyImages-2196449012.jpg 1024w" sizes=" (max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" /></a>Hamas secures an area before handing over an Israeli-American hostage to a Red Cross team in Gaza City on February 1, 2025. (Photo by OMAR AL-QATTAA/AFP via Getty Images)</div>
Siegel was kept in a suffocating tunnel 33 feet underground and says he was given very little food and water.
Siegel’s ribs were reportedly broken when he was taken captive, and his condition deteriorated so badly that former hostage Emily Damari said she offered to switch places with him so he could be released sooner, <a href="https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/article-839135">The Jerusalem Post reported</a>.
Hamas also used him for propaganda. He appeared in an April 2024 <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=obQ7vpgWHiU">video</a> speaking Hebrew and looking frail before beginning to cry.
Due to being a hostage, he was unable to say goodbye to his mother, Gladys, who passed away in December 2024 in North Carolina. The family chose to shield her from the news of her son’s captivity before she died, according to the American Jewish Committee.
Two weeks after he was released, Siegel recorded a video message praising Trump for helping secure his freedom.
&#8220;President Trump, you are the reason I am home alive,&#8221; he said. &#8220;You are the reason I was reunited with my beloved wife, four children, and five grandchildren. Thank you for your continued fight against terror and for your bold leadership that has brought me and many others back home to our families, to safety and to security.&#8221;
Siegel, his wife, and other hostages met with Trump in the Oval Office in March 2025, where they <a href="https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/article-844850">thanked him</a> for their freedom.

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WASHINGTON — King Abdullah II of Jordan visited President Donald Trump at the White House on Tuesday, where the Jordanian king agreed to accept refugees into his country.
The meeting comes after Trump made repeated demands for Jordan and Egypt to take in refugees, despite both countries declining. Trump and Abdullah met to discuss issues including Trump&#8217;s Gaza proposal, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, ISIS and al-Qaeda, and economic cooperation.
The king and crown prince of Jordan arrived at the White House around noon Tuesday afternoon, where they both attended a bilateral meeting and lunch with the president. Secretary of State Marco Rubio also attended the meeting — the first official encounter between the King of Jordan and the President of the United States since Hamas and Israel agreed to a ceasefire.
Trump<a href="https://x.com/MaryMargOlohan/status/1889361279938072743"> greeted</a> Abdullah outside the White House on Tuesday. After the king was met by the White House honor guard, Trump said of Abdullah, &#8220;He&#8217;s a great man.&#8221;
The president took one brief question from the assembled press as he greeted Abdullah outside the White House: a reporter shouted a question asking whether Saturday is still Trump&#8217;s deadline for Hamas, and Trump responded, &#8220;Yes.&#8221;
During the meeting, Abdullah expressed delight at being able to meet with Trump so soon after the president’s inauguration.
“Mr. President, I truly believe with all of the challenges that we have in the Middle East, I finally see somebody that can take us across the finish line that can bring stability and peace and prosperity to all of us in the region,” Abdullah said. “I think it is our collective responsibility in the Middle East to continue to work with you and to support you.”
<div id="attachment_875067" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/king-abdullah-of-jordan-agrees-to-accept-refugees-during-trump-white-house-meeting/us-jordan-diplomacy-trump-abdullah-ii-2" rel="attachment wp-att-875067"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-875067" class="wp-image-875067 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/GettyImages-2198363599-864x576.jpg" alt="" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/GettyImages-2198363599-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/GettyImages-2198363599-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/GettyImages-2198363599-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/GettyImages-2198363599-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/GettyImages-2198363599-1200x800.jpg 1200w" sizes=" (max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" /></a>(Photo by SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images)</div>
King Abdullah said he is open to coming up with solutions that serve the interests of all parties.
“I think the point is how do we make this work in a way that is good for everybody. Obviously, we have to look at the best interests of the United States, of the people in the region, and especially my people of Jordan.&#8221;
Abdullah offered to take 2,000 sick children from the Gaza Strip almost immediately.
Trump called the gesture “beautiful.”
“We really appreciate it,” Trump said. “It’s music to my ears.”
King Abdullah said he wants to wait for the Egyptians to present their plan on how to address the challenges in Gaza.
Trump said he believes there is a 99% chance he will work something out with Egypt. The president previously threatened to withhold aid to the two countries unless a deal could be made, but backed down during the meeting, stating “I do think we’re above that.”
Trump doubled down on his plan to have Gazans leave their homes and resettle somewhere outside Hamas rule. He added the United States will not buy Gaza, but will “have it.”
“Nobody is going to question it,” he said. “We’re going to run it very properly and eventually we will have economic development on a very large scale. Maybe the largest scale on that site.”
The president said developments will include hotels, office buildings, and housing.
Trump also addressed his Saturday deadline for Hamas to return all hostages, saying that he thinks the terror group will fail to meet his demands.&#8220;They want to play tough guy, but we&#8217;ll see how tough they are,” Trump said. 
Trump called the terror group bullies, adding that bullies are typically “the weakest person.”
On Saturday, Trump said he was losing patience with Hamas following the return of three Israeli hostages who were in dangerously poor health.
“I watched the hostages return today, and they looked like Holocaust survivors,” Trump said. “They were in horrible condition, emaciated. It looked like many years ago, the Holocaust survivors. I don’t know how much longer we can take that.”
“At some point, we are going to lose our patience,” Trump added. “When I see that scene that I saw today of people coming out of helicopters and airplanes that are emaciated, that look like they haven’t had a meal in a month, there’s no reason for that, and I don’t know how much longer we can take it.”
Abdullah met with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Sunday ahead of his meeting with the president. On Monday, he met with National Security Adviser Mike Waltz and attended a roundtable meeting with representatives of companies and institutions from Massachusetts hosted by Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey.

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King Abdullah Of Jordan Agrees To Accept Refugees During Trump White House Meeting