Keith Siegel, the North Carolina-born Israeli-American freed earlier this year from Hamas captivity in Gaza, recounted the horrors he endured while being held by the terror group to a gathering of foreign diplomats, D.C. power players and American Jewish Committee members on Wednesday evening.

Siegel, 65, spoke at the AJC’s annual Ambassadors’ Seder, attended by envoys from around the world to Washington, congressional staff and a range of other D.C. policy hands. The event was AJC’s largest-ever Ambassadors’ Seder in more than 30 years, with more than 400 attendees and diplomats from more than 60 countries registered to attend.

Recounting his time in captivity, Siegel said he was beaten at random and without warning, sexually assaulted, forced to watch as other hostages were beaten and assaulted, starved and humiliated, forced to make Hamas propaganda videos, spat on and forcibly shaved. He said he was kept alone in a locked room for six months. Siegel said that Hamas also attempted to make him convert to Islam.

“These memories of medieval torture methods still haunt me,” Siegel said. “Every interaction,” Siegel continued, “reinforced this brutal reality” that he was entirely at the terrorists’ mercy.

Siegel said he had been shot in the hand and his ribs had been broken during the Oct. 7 attack and that his wounds were not treated for the entire time he was held by Hamas.

“I’m sharing my story because the world needs to understand what the 59 hostages that are still held captive in Gaza are facing,” Siegel said.

Siegel thanked President Donald Trump for his work to reach a hostage deal after more than a year of delay.

“President Trump got negotiations resumed, and the deal that brought me home was signed,” Siegel said.

He called on Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to continue to work to resume negotiations and bring the remaining hostages home.

“The remaining 59 hostages deserve the chance I was given to heal, to reconnect, to live,” Siegel said. “For the hostages who were killed, their families cannot begin healing without a proper burial for their loved ones … I cannot begin to heal until all the 59 hostages are home. Please continue to help us and do everything that you can, the way you’ve been doing since Oct. 7, to end the suffering and bring all of the hostages home.”

Other speakers at the event included Siegel’s wife, Aviva Siegel, who is also a former hostage, Ukrainian Ambassador Oksana Markarova, Israeli Deputy Chief of Mission Eliav Benjamin and AJC CEO Ted Deutch. Iair Horn, another recently released hostage, was in the audience.

“With the 59 hostages still in Gaza, part of my happiness and freedom have been taken away, and I want it back,” Aviva Siegel said.

Markarova, in conversation with Jason Isaacson, AJC’s chief policy and political affairs officer, compared Ukraine’s fight to repel Russia’s invasion to the Passover story: “this is our fight for freedom … It is about horrible sacrifices and suffering, but also joy, because we know we will be free at the end.”

Asked about the Trump administration’s efforts to broker peace, Markarova said, “Ukraine did not start this war. We did not choose this war. And yet nobody wants peace more than us, and we have always been committed to peace.”

She emphasized that Ukraine has agreed to proposals for both a full and partial cease-fire, but Russia has not. “We will not be the problem in that solution because we have never been the problem to start with,” she said.

Markarova also highlighted the roles that Ukraine continues to play in the global economy, and noted that Ukraine is working with Israel in technology and defense technology development.

Benjamin, speaking in place of Israeli Ambassador Yechiel Leiter, said that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to Washington this week, his second since Trump’s inauguration, “shows a lot about the relationship and the strength of the relations between Israel and the United States and the importance that both sides put towards these relations.”

He also emphasized his thanks to the Biden administration and the importance of bipartisanship and said Israel is continuing to work to free the hostages.

“We also need to remember to stand up for what is right, be very clear in a moral manner of what is right and what is wrong, with no need for apologies on where we stand on some of these issues,” Benjamin said. “The idea is to defeat the evil and bring in more of the good.”

Deutch highlighted the plight of the hostages as well as the global surge in antisemitism since the Oct. 7 attack.

“On the diplomatic front, each of you in this room has the power to shape what happens next,” Deutch said. “Brave and bold and principled diplomacy … is a powerful weapon against antisemitism, against hatred. Governments must not only condemn antisemitism but act, with policies, with law enforcement and education. Your voices matter.”

“Don’t forget the hostages. Uplift their stories,” Deutch continued. “Wear a yellow pin. Demand that Hamas release every single hostage. Make sure that Israel’s place among the nations is secure and fight misinformation about Israel on the global stage.”