Father of Hamas Hostage Recounts ‘Living Hell’ Year Since Son’s Abduction

Jonathan Dekel-Chen, the father of Sagui Dekel-Chen, an American citizen taken hostage by Hamas terrorists one year ago, described his life as a “living hell” since his son’s capture. Sagui was kidnapped from Kibbutz Nir Oz on October 7, 2023, when Hamas launched its brutal attack on Israel, killing over 1,200 people and taking hostages.

“It’s our own crisis of having a hostage that we know nothing of his fate,” Dekel-Chen told. “We’ve lost our way of life.” Dekel-Chen, who also lived in Nir Oz, said the entire community remains “completely traumatized” as no household was left untouched by the massacre, either by the death or capture of loved ones.

Sagui, 36, put his pregnant wife and children in a safe room before going out to defend the kibbutz, only to be taken by Hamas. Freed hostages reported last November that they had seen him wounded, but no updates on his condition have surfaced since. “It’s such a terrible waste,” Dekel-Chen said. “He’s the son that any parent would dream of.”

During a speech at the Remembering October 7 event in Washington, D.C., Dekel-Chen recounted the agony of wondering whether his son knows about the fate of his family, including the birth of Sagui’s daughter, Shahar, born after his capture.

Nir Oz, a once-thriving farming community, lost 51 residents to murder and 79 others were taken hostage in the Hamas attack. Twenty-six people, including Sagui, are still held captive. “Hamas and the civilian looters from Gaza reduced us... to a smoldering shell,” Dekel-Chen said.

Dekel-Chen called on the Israeli and U.S. governments to do more to free the hostages, urging leaders to show “political courage” in the fight for their release. “I do not seek revenge. I seek justice,” he stated, pressing for the simple right to “be free and to live in a Jewish state that protects its citizens.”

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