Hostage’s father Ruby Chen says Iran conflict could be ‘opportunity’ to end Gaza war

Ruby Chen calls the IDF return today of the bodies of three hostages — Yonatan Samerano, Shay Levinson and Ofra Keidar — “a gut check.”

“It just means it can happen to us,” says Chen, whose soldier son Itay Chen was killed and taken hostage by Hamas terrorists on October 7, 2023. “At any moment, we can get that knock on the door,” letting them know that IDF forces recovered his son’s body.

At the same time, Chen sees the current escalation with Iran as an opportunity to show Hamas that it’s in a worse position than it was just 10 days ago.

“The question is, can Israel also identify that this change is an opportunity and end the smaller conflict in Gaza and focus on the bigger one in Iran,” says Chen. “Everyone knows that Hamas isn’t as strategic a threat to Israel as Iran is. A victory could be the release of the hostages, to say to Hamas, ‘Look, you can’t count on Iran or Hezbollah, and if you want to survive somehow, this is a deal for you.'”

Chen was in Washington when Israel preemptively attacked Iran on June 13. When his flight home was diverted to Europe, he spent several days in Germany meeting with a number of officials from the country’s new conservative government.

“Germany has been in a back seat when it comes to this,” says Chen, noting that Germany had more than two dozen dual citizens killed on October 7 and eight taken hostage.

Chen says the international playing field is changing with the US attack on Iran following Israel’s attacks.

“When there’s change, there’s opportunity for Germany to be more involved and take better care of its citizens which it has not done until now,” says Chen. “It can be a big, beautiful deal, ending the hostilities in Iran and Gaza and the release of the remaining hostages.”