Father of Itay Chen, whose body was returned on Tuesday: ‘It’s our responsibility to bring them all home’

The father of Staff Sgt. Itay Chen, whose body was returned from Gaza by Hamas on Tuesday, says the family can now start to move forward with a sense of closure, but that the fight goes on to secure the release of the remaining hostages.

“We always looked as ourselves as one large and special family,” Ruby Chen says of the hostage families. “The [ceasefire] deal spoke of 48 hostages, not 45 or 42, and it is our responsibility to bring them all home so the country can open a new chapter of rehabilitation.”

Chen tells Channel 12 that has received many messages of support from US officials, both current and also from the Biden administration.

Itay Chen, 19, of the 7th Armored Brigade’s 75th Battalion, from Netanya, was killed on October 7 while battling the Hamas invasion of southern Israel, and his body was taken captive to Gaza.

Itay was stationed near the Gaza border that Saturday morning – he had swapped weekends off with another comrade so he could ensure he would be home for his younger brother’s bar mitzvah a week later.

While Itay was initially considered a living hostage, the IDF determined in March 2024 that he had been killed during the initial onslaught and his body taken captive to Gaza.