Nir Oz father whose son is a hostage is ‘thrilled’ at release of 11 kibbutz members

After more than five weeks days of unmitigated anguish, Jonathan Dekel-Chen is feeling happy again. Nine children and two mothers from his Kibbutz Nir Oz are free following their earlier release from Hamas’s captivity for 53 days.

The prize for their freedom is 33 Palestinian prisoners freed by Israel.

“I’m thrilled for these their families. It is truly wonderful. I’ve known all these kids since they were born, and I couldn’t be happier for them,” Dekel-Chen tells The Times of Israel. His son, Sagui, is presumed to be held hostage in Gaza and is not among the 11 released Monday in a truce deal that prioritized the release of children and women.

“It’s just the beginning,” says Dekel-Chen about the fourth swap in an exchange whose first phase is meant to lead to the release of 50 Israelis and 150 Palestinians. “From our kibbutz alone, we have more than 50 hostages still remaining in Hamas captivity, including my son,” says Dekel-Chen, whose kibbutz was among the worst-hit – 1 in 4 residents were murdered — on October 7.

Nir Oz’s surviving residents are staying in a hotel in Eilat. Dekel-Chen, who, like his hostage son, is a US citizen, is there now following a visit to the United States, where he had held meetings and spoke to the media about the effort to retrieve hostages.

“We’re doubling down on the determination to make sure that our government prioritizes getting all of the hostages out now, or as quickly as humanly possible,” Dekel-Chen, a professor of history at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, adds.