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Sagui Dekel-Chen

Culture editor Jessica Steinberg joins host Amanda Borschel-Dan on today's Daily Briefing podcast. (Orit Pnini)
August 19, 2026, 2:20 pm
Daily Briefing Aug. 19 – Former Hamas hostage fulfills a dream at Nir Oz
Culture editor Jessica Steinberg on Sagui Dekel-Chen’s performance of 9 songs composed in captivity, new films documenting October 7, 2023, and an ongoing boycott of Israeli artists
By Amanda Borschel-Dan and Jessica Steinberg
Former hostage Sagui Dekel-Chen performs the songs he composed in captivity, on the lawn of Kibbutz Nir Oz as part of the Israel Festival on August 10, 2026 (Orit Pnini)
August 11, 2026, 4:37 pm
Former hostage Sagui Dekel-Chen returns home to perform songs he composed in Hamas captivity
Concert is held on the lawn of Kibbutz Nir Oz, where singer was born and raised and lived with his family until the October 7 Hamas onslaught
By Jessica Steinberg
Choreographer Adi Boutrous' new dance will premiere at the 2026 Israel Festival, July 28-August 20, 2026 (Ascaf)
July 5, 2026, 2:13 pm
Israel Festival to mark 65 years with aerial feats, hostage songs and art in wartime
Three-week festival, running July 28 to August 20, will feature music, dance, spoken word and theater created over recent years of war and recovery
By Jessica Steinberg
Jonathan Dekel-Chen, the father of American-Israeli hostage Sagui Dekel-Chen, speaks at a J Street event on the sidelines of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, August 21, 2024. (Jacob Magid/The Times of Israel)
January 27, 2026, 8:27 pm
Jonathan Dekel-Chen, father of former Israeli hostage, to join Columbia University faculty
Dekel-Chen, whose son Sagui was captive in Gaza for nearly 500 days, will join university’s School of International and Public Affairs
By Luke Tress
Singer-songwriter Idan Raichel on piano with released hostage Sagui Dekel-Chen on April 29. 2025 (Screengrab: YouTube)
May 3, 2025, 11:51 pm
Freed hostage Sagui Dekel-Chen sings with Idan Raichel
Kibbutz Nir Oz resident speaks about sense of hope and loss experienced by his community, during performance of Shalom Hanoch’s song ‘Children of Life’
By Jessica Steinberg
Freed hostage Sagui Dekel-Chen (right) with his father Jonathan aboard an IDF helicopter en route to the hospital soon after his release from 498 days in Hamas captivity in Gaza, February 15, 2025. (IDF)
March 29, 2025, 5:38 pm
Daily Briefing Mar. 29: Day 540 – Jonathan Dekel-Chen: US feels like hostages’ only beacon
Father of released hostage Sagui Dekel-Chen reflects on his son’s sense of rebirth, the struggle to bring him home, and the continuing sense of abandonment by Israel’s government
By Jessica Steinberg
Freed hostage Sagui Dekel-Chen (right) with his father Jonathan aboard an IDF helicopter en route to the hospital soon after his release from 498 days in Hamas captivity in Gaza, February 15, 2025. (IDF)
March 29, 2025, 5:24 pm
What Matters Now to Jonathan Dekel-Chen: US feels like the hostages’ only beacon
Father of released hostage Sagui Dekel-Chen reflects on his son’s sense of rebirth, the struggle to bring him home, and the continuing sense of abandonment by Israel’s government
By Jessica Steinberg
Israelis attend a rally demanding a deal to bring hostages home from Gaza, at Hostages Square in Tel Aviv, March 8, 2025. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)
March 21, 2025, 11:07 pm
‘Israel choosing endless war’: 40 freed hostages demand end to fighting, return to talks
Also signed by 250 family members of hostages, letter calls renewed fighting in Gaza Strip a ‘criminal policy’ that risks lives of living hostages, disappearing the fallen
By ToI Staff
Sagui Dekel-Chen, watched by his wife Avital and two of their daughters, sings with the Tamari Project in a clip released on February 28, 2025 (Screen grab: YouTube/The Tamari Project)
March 1, 2025, 10:33 am
Sagui Dekel-Chen sings song of hope to remaining hostages
Accompanied by band named for slain friend, freed captive, who says he’s ‘just a dad who sings,’ recounts how music helped him survive: ‘Wipe off your tears and sing with me’
By ToI Staff
Freed hostage Sagui Dekel-Chen with his wife Avital aboard an IDF helicopter en route to the hospital soon after his release from 498 days in Hamas captivity in Gaza, February 15, 2025. The whiteboard message refers to the then-73 hostages still held in Gaza, and urges 'return all of them to us.' (IDF)
February 25, 2025, 8:47 am
Ex-hostage urges Netanyahu to set politics aside and finally visit ravaged Nir Oz
‘I will show you blood-soaked places and burnt homes,’ Israeli-American Sagui Dekel-Chen, who was freed on February 15, tells prime minister
By ToI Staff
Avital Dekel-Chen, whose husband Sagui Dekel-Chen was released from captivity in Gaza after 498 days on February 15, 2025, speaks to the press on February 16, 2025. (Hostages Families Forum)
February 17, 2025, 12:38 am
Freed hostage learned fate of family day before release, survived on love, wife says
Avital Dekel-Chen says Sagui didn’t know the entire time he was held captive that she and their daughters were alive; Sasha Troufanov’s mother: He was shot in both legs, ‘miracle’ he can walk
By ToI Staff
Freed hostage Sagui Dekel-Chen is reunited with his wife Avital on his return to Israel after 498 days in captivity in Gaza, February 15, 2025. (IDF)
February 16, 2025, 2:26 pm
Daily Briefing Feb. 16: Day 499 – Freed Nir Oz hostages describe torture, torment in Gaza
Times of Israel founding editor David Horovitz discusses details revealed by the newly released hostages, and the prime minister’s ‘wriggling’ on second-stage ceasefire negotiations
By Jessica Steinberg and David Horovitz
Left to right: freed hostage Sasha Troufanov, center, embraces his mother Yelena, left, and his girlfriend Sapir Cohen in an Israeli Air Force helicopter on the way from the Gaza border area to Sheba-Tel Hashomer Medical Center near Tel Aviv, February 15, 2025. (IDF); Newly-released hostage Iair Horn (center) reunites with relatives at Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center. (Ma'ayon Toaf / GPO); Freed hostage Sagui Dekel-Chen seen with his wife Avital aboard an IDF helicopter. (IDF)
February 16, 2025, 3:29 am
Hours after release, freed hostages talk of Hamas torture, psychological torment
Iair Horn was held with brother Eitan at start of captivity, but hasn’t seen him since; Sagui Dekel-Chen scarred by torture; Troufanov was held alone, learned to speak and read Arabic
By ToI Staff
Freed hostage Sagui Dekel-Chen is reunited with his wife Avital on his return to Israel after 498 days in captivity in Gaza, February 15, 2025. (IDF)
February 15, 2025, 4:01 pm
A new daughter, a murdered father, a brother captive: Joy and anguish as hostages released
Emotional reunions as Sagui Dekel-Chen, Sasha Troufanov and Iair Horn freed after 498 days in captivity in Gaza, reunited with families and airlifted to hospital in Israel
By Emanuel Fabian and ToI Staff
A woman holds pictures of three released Israeli hostages in Tel Aviv on February 15, 2025 in the city's Hostages Square. (Jack GUEZ / AFP)
February 15, 2025, 2:44 pm
Daily Briefing Feb.15: Day 498 – 3 freed hostages find new baby, murdered dad, captive brother
Military reporter Emanuel Fabian updates us on today’s hostage releases, the status of the ceasefire with Lebanon and the ongoing counterterrorism operation in the West Bank
By Amanda Borschel-Dan and Emanuel Fabian
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