3 Alive, 4 Dead: US Citizens Still Held Hostage in Gaza

Three U.S.-Israeli citizens believed to still be alive remain hostage in Gaza, including 36-year-old Sagui Dekel-Chen.   

“This is an American problem, and so far, the Biden administration, despite its best efforts, has not been able to get them home,” Jonathan Dekel-Chen, Sagui Dekel-Chen’s father, told The Daily Signal.  

It has been over 14 months since Hamas terrorists entered the kibbutz where the Dekel-Chen family lived and took Sagui Dekel-Chen hostage during the Oct. 7 terrorist attack on Israel that left 1,200 people dead. His pregnant wife and two young daughters miraculously survived the attack on their kibbutz, located less than a mile from the border of Gaza. Jonathan Dekel-Chen, 61, was traveling in America at the time of the attack.  

The father has dedicated most of his time over the past year advocating for his son’s freedom and the release of all of the other, now about 100, hostages who remain in Gaza.  

“I’m doing everything that I can to get him back to his wife and three daughters,” the father said of his son. Sagui Dekel-Chen has not yet met his youngest daughter, who was born two months after he was taken hostage.  

Negotiations over a deal to release the hostages have been stalled numerous times, but talks continue.  

“We are hopeful that now, together with the Trump administration and, you know, after a clear statement from the president-elect about what his expectations are for return of all the hostages, we are hopeful that there will be real movement—all of the hostages come home, and that there is a ceasefire in Gaza,” Jonathan Dekel-Chen said.  

In early December, President-elect Donald Trump issued a clear statement on Truth Social, warning that “there will be ALL HELL TO PAY in the Middle East, and for those in charge who perpetrated these atrocities against Humanity” if the hostages are not released by the time he is sworn into office on Jan. 20.  

“Those responsible will be hit harder than anybody has been hit in the long and storied History of the United States of America,” Trump wrote, adding, “RELEASE THE HOSTAGES NOW!” 

“I would say all of the hostage families, and I would say almost all Israelis, were incredibly appreciative of that clear statement from the president-elect,” Jonathan Dekel-Chen said.  

In addition to Sagui Dekel-Chen, Israel-American hostages Edan Alexander, 20, and Keith Siegel, 65, are believed to be alive in Gaza.   

The other four hostages—Omer Neutra, Itay Chen, Judi Weinstein Haggai, and Gad Haggai—are confirmed deceased, but it is believed that their bodies are still in Gaza.  

“We need to create a situation where no one will dare abduct American citizens moving into the future,” Jonathan Dekel-Chen said. “And we must, as Americans, ensure that terror, this kind of terror—mass murder, mass rape, mass hostage-taking, mass looting—does not win. The way that [the terrorists] do not win is by making them return all the hostages.”

The post 3 Alive, 4 Dead: US Citizens Still Held Hostage in Gaza appeared first on The Daily Signal.