WASHINGTON ― Itay Chen, an American-Israeli soldier who went lacking through the Oct. 7 Hamas assault on Israel, was confirmed useless Tuesday by the Israel Protection Forces.
The household of Chen, a 19-year-old IDF soldier and twin U.S.-Israeli citizen who was stationed on the Gaza Strip border, had labored to free the remaining Israeli hostages in Gaza in hopes that Chen was amongst them.
However the IDF, citing new intelligence, mentioned Chen’s physique was taken to Gaza by Hamas militants after he was killed through the Oct. 7 assault. His stays are nonetheless in Gaza.
“Our hearts are damaged. We beloved him a lot, and we’d have performed something to convey him house alive,” Ruby and Hagit Chen, mother and father of Itay Chen, mentioned in a press release.
The information of his dying comes because the Biden administration’s efforts to safe a six-week cease-fire between Israel and Hamas has stalled, with Hamas unwilling to signal on to a truce. Hamas has not launched an inventory of the roughly 40 hostages believed to be remaining in Gaza.
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Jake Sullivan, White Home nationwide safety adviser, mentioned 5 People stay hostages in Gaza.
Biden supplied condolences to Chen’s household in a press release. “At present, our hearts are heavy,” Biden mentioned, including that he and the primary woman have been devastated to study that Itay Chen was killed.
Chen was born and raised in New York Metropolis − rooting on American sports activities, enjoying basketball and reciting the Pledge of Allegiance every day − earlier than later transferring along with his household to Israel. The household, unable to succeed in Chen after the Oct. 7 assault, was instructed by the IDF that his standing was lacking in motion, or MIA.
“I get up not figuring out the place my son slept final evening, whether or not he was given any meals or water, whether or not he is been injured. We do not even know if he’s alive,” Ruby Chen wrote in a USA TODAY op-ed revealed Jan. 22.
Ruby Chen was among the many relations of hostage victims who met with Biden on the White Home in December.
“Nobody ought to should endure even sooner or later of what they’ve gone by,” Biden mentioned of the Chen household, recalling a menorah that Ruby Chen handed him on the finish of the assembly as a reminder that “gentle will at all times dispel the darkness, and evil is not going to win.”
“At present, as we be part of Itay’s mother and father, brothers, and household in grieving this tragic loss, we preserve this reminder near our hearts,” Biden mentioned. “And I reaffirm my pledge to all of the households of these nonetheless held hostage: we’re with you. We are going to by no means cease working to convey your family members house.”
Chen’s mother and father thanked the Biden administration, U.S. members of Congress, and the American folks for his or her “unwavering assist and prayers over the past 158 days.”
“Much more so at this time, we anticipate Prime Minister Netanyahu and President Biden to do all the pieces of their energy to convey Itay, in addition to the opposite 133 hostages, again house to us,” Chen’s mother and father mentioned of their assertion on Tuesday. “Now we have come to know the entire households who’re ready for his or her family members, and we is not going to cease working till each single hostage comes house.”
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