Chen, 19, was last remaining hostage with US citizenship; 7 slain captives remain in Strip; army said to believe all can be found; army chief said to demand Hadar Goldin’s body in exchange for cut-off Hamas fighters
The body of Staff Sgt. Itay Chen was returned from Gaza to Israel on Tuesday night by IDF troops after Hamas handed over the casket with his remains to the Red Cross.
Chen, 19, was on active duty with his tank unit at the Nahal Oz IDF base when he was killed and abducted to Gaza by Hamas terrorists on October 7, 2023. He was the last remaining slain hostage held in the Gaza Strip with American citizenship.
After receiving the body from the Red Cross, the IDF inspected the casket, draped it in an Israeli flag and held a short ceremony led by a military rabbi.
After reaching IDF hands, Chen’s body was escorted by police to the Abu Kabir forensic institute in Tel Aviv for identification. Hamas has, in the past, transferred remains that did not belong to a hostage.
Itay was killed alongside fellow tank crew members, Sgt. Tomer Leibovitz and Cpt. Daniel Perez, and his body was abducted together with Perez’s. Perez was returned last month and laid to rest.
The crew’s fourth member, Matan Angrest, was abducted alive and also released last month. Speaking at Perez’s funeral, Angrest promised to keep fighting for Itay’s return and even said he was “ready to go into Gaza right now and bring him back.”
The family of Chen, a US national, has been among the most outspoken proponents for the families of hostages and decided not to sit shiva for him until he was returned and laid to rest.
The transfer of Chen’s remains occurred after the terror group handed over the bodies of three deceased hostages to Israel on Sunday. On Monday morning, their identities were confirmed as IDF soldiers Col. Asaf Hamami, Cpt. Omer Neutra and Staff Sgt. Oz Daniel.
‘Wonderful son’ last heard from at 6.40 a.m. on Oct. 7
Chen, 19, was on active duty, part of a tank unit at the Nahal Oz army base that included three other soldiers, when Hamas-led terrorists attacked southern Israel on October 7, 2023.
The dual US-Israeli citizen was last heard from at 6:40 a.m., when the terrorists invaded the Gaza border communities, including the area where Chen was stationed.
One week later, Chen’s younger brother, Alon, celebrated his bar mitzvah in a small ceremony in Netanya. Thousands of neighborhood residents came out to support the family and Chen’s parents, US-born Ruby and Hagit, and to pray with them for news about Chen.
The Brooklyn-born Ruby Chen said his son had stayed at the base during the Simchat Torah holiday weekend so that he could return home for his younger brother’s bar mitzvah the following weekend.
Ruby Chen said the last he heard from his “wonderful” son was that his base was under heavy bombardment.
Families forum ‘will not rest’ until all are home
In a statement issued after Chen’s body was identified, the Hostages Families Forum vowed not to rest until all seven remaining hostages’ bodies were returned.
“Alongside the grief and the understanding that their hearts will never be whole, Itay’s return provides some measure of comfort to a family that has lived with agonizing uncertainty and doubt for over two years,” the forum said. “We will not rest until the last hostage is brought home.”
Under the terms of the ceasefire that took effect last month, Hamas is obligated to return all hostages in its possession and provide all the information it has regarding where the bodies of hostages can be found. Families of the deceased captives have stressed the importance of returning them to Israel for burial.
Since the ceasefire began — the first stage of a 20-point peace plan proposed by US President Donald Trump — Hamas has released the last 20 surviving hostages, and the bodies of 21 deceased hostages, with seven now remaining in the Strip. The process of finding the bodies has been painstaking and has drawn in international assistance.
But Israel has assessed that Hamas can return most of the deceased hostages. According to a report on Channel 12 on Tuesday, Israel believes that it will be possible to return all the bodies of the remaining hostages held in Gaza, with “strenuous work and cooperation” with Hamas and other parties over time.
The report said Israel knows the locations of at least four of the dead hostages. The network cites three defense officials as saying that the remaining three can also be returned, though it will take time. The tally apparently does not include the body being returned on Tuesday night, which has not yet been identified.
“This can take time, and there are further moves that need to be carried out on the ground, but in the end, it will be possible to return them all for burial in Israel,” a defense official is quoted by Channel 12 as saying.
The seven slain hostages still in Gaza include six who were kidnapped in the Hamas-led onslaught on October 7, 2023, and the body of Lt. Hadar Goldin, who was killed fighting Hamas in Gaza in 2014 and whose body has been held in the Strip since then.
The IDF may press for the return of Goldin’s body by offering safe passage to an estimated 200 Hamas operatives hiding in tunnels in southern Gaza, under the Israeli-held side of the Strip, if the terror group agrees to transfer Goldin’s remains. The operatives would then be allowed into the Hamas-run side of the Strip.
According to a report on Channel 12 on Tuesday, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir recommended the exchange to political officials.
“No terrorist will leave Rafah alive. I am willing to consider the release of terrorists [from Rafah] on one condition — returning Hadar Goldin. Otherwise, no terrorist will leave Rafah alive,” the network quoted Zamir as saying.
The report said Israel believes Goldin’s body is buried in the Rafah area in southern Gaza.
As reported by The Times of Israel