The father of an Israeli-American held hostage in Gaza is pleading with the Biden administration to put pressure on the international community and “work out a deal” with Hamas that would free his son and hundreds of others from captivity.
Ruby Chen’s son, Itay Chen, 19, was on active duty with the Israel Defense Forces when he was abducted from his post near the Gaza border on October 7. Itay is among eight Americans who remain in Gaza out of a total of 138 hostages that Hamas has refused to release since its deadly attack on the Jewish state.
The IDF prisoner was “protecting the values of Western society, freedom, democracy” when he was kidnapped, his father told Fox News on Wednesday.
Ruby Chen joined “Special Report” with host Bret Baier just hours after joining 12 other American family members held hostage by Hamas for a meeting with President Biden at the White House.
Eight US citizens are still being held hostage by Hamas in Gaza. Fox News
The meeting marked the first time the 81-year-old president had met the family in person since the Hamas attack on Israel.
“They don’t have time,” Ruby Chen said of her son and the other hostages. “With each passing day, the probability of bringing home a US citizen is not good.”
“Any meeting I have with officials, I put this on the table to try to emphasize the fact that you’re going back to your family and to a nice dinner – we have empty seats.”
Jonathan Dekel-Chen, the father of Sagui Dekel-Chen, a 35-year-old Israeli-American, told Baier that information from the recently released hostage indicated that his son was still alive. While Dekel-Chen praised Biden for his efforts to free his son, he also called for “something greater” to be done as Sagui’s time in captivity reached 67 days.
Family members of several American hostages in Gaza met with President Biden at the White House on Wednesday. Getty Images
“President Biden and the administration as a whole have been incredible partners in this fight to get all of our loved ones back,” Dekel-Chen said. “Great efforts have been made. We are asking for bigger ones to be invested now. These are critical moments.”
Ruby Chen also stated that she felt “a little more” pressure should be applied to the international community.
“We feel that the United States, as the leader of the free world … may be able to put more pressure, especially on Egypt, Qatar, other influential players, to complete the agreement, signed on the dotted line, to get the hostages out, which is a humanitarian crisis, Chen said.
Chen said that he also believes the situation in Gaza, where the Hamas-run health ministry claims 18,608 people have been killed since Israel began retaliating against the city, is also a humanitarian crisis.
“Don’t forget that the Palestinian people are also hostages to the terrorist organization Hamas. The question is how to influence Hamas to come to the negotiation table with the state of Israel,” he said.
Chen added that he imagined his son – a skilled card player – performing tricks in the tunnels under Gaza while awaiting his release.
“Hopefully he has a deck of cards … in custody somewhere, hopefully, doing time,” he said.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
