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Itay Chen, a 19-year-old U.S. and Israeli citizen thought to have been a taken hostage on Oct. 7 was the truth is killed that day, his mother and father mentioned on Tuesday.
The couple, Ruby and Hagit Chen, mentioned that the Israeli navy advised them that it had intelligence indicating that their son, a service member, was killed whereas defending civilians on the border of Gaza throughout the Hamas-led invasion.
“Our hearts are damaged,” the Chens mentioned in a press release. “We beloved him a lot, and we’d have executed something to convey him residence alive.”
In an interview with The Occasions earlier this 12 months, Itay’s father, Ruby Chen, described the younger man because the “lifetime of the occasion” and the “connector” of their household. A center baby, Mr. Chen mentioned, Itay was multitalented and fun-loving, a Boy Scout who, performed basketball and, like many younger folks, beloved his PlayStation.
Itay grew up in Israel, within the metropolis of Netanya, simply north of Tel Aviv, however his father mentioned the household would ceaselessly go to his personal hometown, New York.
“I need to take him again to Coney Island,” he mentioned. “I need to take him again to Madison Sq. Backyard.”
Till the announcement of his loss of life, Itay Chen had been counted because the youngest American hostage remaining in Hamas captivity.
Of their assertion, Itay Chen’s mother and father thanked the Biden administration and members of Congress for his or her help. They added that they anticipated the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and President Biden to do “every little thing of their energy” to convey Itay’s stays and the opposite hostages residence.
Ruby Chen was a part of a bunch of American households who met ceaselessly with U.S. officers to push the White Home to barter the discharge of their family members. 5 different People are thought to nonetheless be hostages in Gaza, and their households have mentioned that point is working out for them. At the very least 30 of the overall remaining 136 hostages in Gaza are believed to be useless, in line with Israeli intelligence.
The USA, Qatar and Egypt had hoped to safe a deal between Israel and Hamas for a cease-fire that might additionally enable the discharge of among the hostages by the beginning of Ramadan, however no deal had come by the point the Muslim holy month started. Either side have blamed one another for the shortage of any progress on finalizing a deal,: Israel has rejected Hamas’s calls for for a complete cease-fire, saying that with out one other hostage launch, there is not going to be a pause in preventing.
Some kinfolk of Israeli hostages have demanded that Israeli officers take higher motion to prioritize the discharge of their family members, mounting protests which have included storming Israeli Parliament conferences, blocking highways, conducting days-long marches and rallying exterior Mr. Netanyahu’s home. Different households have mentioned that the Israeli navy ought to proceed waging struggle towards Hamas, even when it means their kinfolk stay in captivity.
In a press release, Mr. Biden mentioned he joined the Chens in grieving for his or her son and reaffirmed his pledge to by no means cease working to convey the hostages residence.
“In December, Itay’s father and brother joined me on the White Home, to share the agony and uncertainty they’ve confronted as they prayed for the protected return of their beloved one,” Mr. Biden mentioned.
“Nobody ought to should endure even sooner or later of what they’ve gone by way of. On the finish of our assembly, they gave me a menorah — a solemn reminder that mild will all the time dispel the darkness, and evil is not going to win.”
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