Staff Sgt. Itay Chen, 19: American-Israeli tank gunner loved basketball

Staff Sgt. 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 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.

With the start of the attack, he and his tank crew fought for hours against the Hamas invasion of the Nahal Oz IDF outpost until he was killed alongside Sgt. Tomer Leibovitz and his commander, Cpt. Daniel Perez.

The bodies of Itay and Daniel were taken captive to Gaza, while their comrade Matan Angrest was captured alive from the tank and kidnapped to the Strip. Matan was freed on October 13, 2025, the same day that Daniel’s body was returned to Israel.

While Itay was initially considered a hostage, the IDF determined in March 2024 that he had been killed during the initial onslaught and his body taken captive to Gaza. His family refused to hold a funeral or sit shiva until his remains were returned to Israel.

Itay’s body was finally returned by Hamas from Gaza on November 4, 2025. He was buried in Tel Aviv on November 9. He is survived by his parents, Ruby and Hagit, and his brothers Roy and Alon.

A dual US-Israeli citizen, Itay was born and raised in Netanya, the middle child of a New York-born father and Israeli native mother.

He loved to both play and watch basketball, his family said, and he was a big fan of the Boston Celtics, to the dismay of his Knicks-loving father. Though he grew up in Israel, the family would regularly take trips to New York to visit family in Brooklyn and Long Island.

Itay was active in his local scouting troop, first as a participant and later as a counselor, and he loved to play PlayStation and to hang out with the beloved family dog, Gucci. He enjoyed breakdancing, singing and indoor rock climbing, his family said.

On August 14, 2022, he enlisted in the IDF and joined the Armored Corps, and was assigned to the 75th Battalion, training as a tank gunner.

Itay had already been dreaming about traveling the world with his girlfriend, Neta, once his mandatory army service was finished.

His father, Ruby Chen, told The New York Times that Itay was the “life of the party” and the “connector” of their family.

In an interview with British newspaper The Times, Ruby said that in 2025 Itay “most likely would have been traveling Europe with his girlfriend, enjoying life as a young couple.”

“He had his whole life ahead of him. He was so multitalented, it would have been so intriguing to see how his life unfolded. But instead, we are in a different dimension,” he added.

Itay’s older brother, Roy, told the Ynet news site, “Itay was my middle brother. There were three years between us. I’m the oldest, and he was always there. We grew up in the same house, went to the same school — just at different times.”

Roy said, “On October 7, we were both in the army. I was already an officer, and he had just started his service in the armored corps, which was all he ever wanted.” He added, “I miss him, and I miss what was normal. I miss the holidays, the Saturdays when he’d come home, even the little things that annoyed me about him. I miss those, too.”

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