Mother of slain hostage soldier Itay Chen says hard to think of her son as a corpse without proof of his death

Hagit and Ruby Chen, the parents of slain hostage soldier Itay Chen, whose body has yet to be returned from Gaza, speak at an online gathering of Shift 101, the silent protest group that usually meets in front of public institutions in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.

The Chens ask those at the gathering to continue attending protests and rallies, as they have dwindled in numbers since the release of the last 20 living hostages.

As participants tell the Chens they hope that Itay’s body is returned soon, so as to offer them a sense of closure, Hagit says she is not sure how she’ll feel.

“He fell in battle,” says Chen. “We don’t have any physical evidence of his death, and until they prove otherwise to me, he’s alive. It’s difficult for me to speak of him as a corpse. Prove it. I have no proof.”

There are several hundred people online for the gathering, including Yael Adar, the mother of Tamir Adar, whose body was returned and buried in Kibbutz Nir Oz, and Bar Godard, the daughter of Meny Godard, whose body is still held in Gaza after being killed at his home on Kibbutz Be’eri on October 7.

Adar, who was an active part of the struggle to bring the hostages home, tells the gathering that she is walking around with a smile now that she has been able to bury her son.

“The sadness is always there, but the proof of his body allows you to separate,” she says. “Tamir is home.”