Youngest American hostage Itay Chen’s family hopeful after Gaza peace deal
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While many are celebrating the news of President Donald Trump’s groundbreaking hostage release deal, the father of the youngest American still in Hamas captivity remains cautious.
“It’s filled with mixed emotions,” Ruby Chen, father of 19-year-old U.S.-Israeli citizen Itay Chen, said on “Fox & Friends” Thursday.
“There’s excitement and anticipation for the hostages to finally show up, but there’s also anxiety because it’s not 100%.” [certain] All 48 hostages will come out, so there [could be] Some will just be left behind because they won’t be able to find them.”
MONTHS LATER, TRUMP SAID ‘THE WHOLE WORLD CAME TOGETHER’ TO STRENGTHEN THE ISRAEL-HAMAS PEACE AGREEMENT
The undated photo shows US-Israeli hostage Itay Chen at an undisclosed location. Chen’s body remains in Hamas captivity and his family is hopeful for his release. (Taken from Fox News)
Chen’s son was thought to have been kidnapped while serving on the Gaza border during Hamas’ terrorist attacks on October 7, 2023, but was later pronounced dead by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).
His body lies in Gaza, along with the remains of many others, and is expected to be released along with the living hostages as part of Israel and Hamas’ agreement on phase one of Trump’s peace deal.
But Chen said his family is still waiting to receive confirmation that Itay is one of the remaining U.S. citizens to be released. He added that so far there has been no physical evidence to show what happened to his son.
TRUMP THANKS THE GROUP REPRESENTING HOSTAGE FAMILIES FOR THE NOBEL PEACE PRIZE APPEAL
Ruby and Hagit Chen speak at an Independence Day event in Tel Aviv, Israel, on July 4. Their son Itay is still being held in Gaza. Next to the Chens is Einav Zangauker, whose son is also held hostage in Gaza. (Adar Eyal/Hostages and Missing Families Forum)
So he holds out some hope that Itay somehow survived.
“Since then, there has been a struggle to get simple confirmation from Hamas, from this terrorist organization, which to date does not acknowledge that they have it and what its physical condition is, and the previous administration was not capable of receiving these two indicators,” Chen said. he said.
“We have high hopes for the new administration and President Trump. God bless him for what he did and his focus on the hostages.”
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Alex Plitsas, formerly of the White House hostage policy team, expects about 20 of the remaining 48 hostages to survive.
He told Fox & Friends that he told senior officials from Israel and the United States that Hamas wanted extra time to locate the bodies.
“It was easier to find the living, but they claimed they had lost contact with a few people due to military activities over the last two years and recent heavy bombing, so they needed some time for that to happen,” he said.
President Trump said he expects the remaining hostages to be released on Monday.
