Who is Sagui Dekel-Chen? Father of 2 goes missing in Gaza while trying to defend Kibbutz from Hamas attack
GAZA STRIP, ISRAEL: Sagui Dekel-Chen, a 35-year-old father expecting his third child, has been reported missing from a Kibbutz that was once home to 400 residents, according to Forward.
Sagui is the son of Prof Jonathan Dekel-Chen, who holds the Rabbi Edward Sandrow Chair in Soviet & East European Jewry at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
Jonathan, originally from Connecticut, expressed that his son was "an arm’s length away from me in Gaza but couldn’t be farther from me and my family right now."
The 35-year-old was last seen defending his residence at Kibbutz Nir Oz, where he resides with his pregnant wife and their two daughters.
Jonathan said, “[Nir OZ] was destroyed in a barbaric attack in which dozens of my friends and neighbors were attacked and killed."
Where is Sagui Dekel-Chen?
Jonathan reported that his son, 35-year-old Sagui Dekel-Chen, was among a group of young men from the Kibbutz who tried to repel a Hamas attack.
Tragically, numerous Kibbutz residents lost their lives in the incident. Sagui, a father of two with a pregnant wife, has not yet been located.
Families appeal for assistance from US government amid Israel-Hamas conflict
The incident occurred during an unforeseen assault by Hamas on Israeli settlements. The families of these missing US citizens, who had chosen Israel as their home, held a distressing press conference in Tel Aviv on Tuesday.
They pleaded with Israeli and US officials to locate their loved ones, or at the very least, provide any available information about their whereabouts and disclose any efforts being undertaken to bring them back.
"It seems to me that the United States, my original home and still a very beloved place for me, always wants to be and must be on the side of good. Hamas is evil," expressed Jonathan during a press conference in Israel regarding his son, Sagui, whose whereabouts are currently unknown, as reported by NY1.
"What we've witnessed — this kind of savagery, this kind of inhumanity — must be stopped, and as a result, like the other five people on this stage who would prefer to be anywhere but here right now, [we] do appeal to the United States government, to the Congress to do what they can on the side of good here," added Jonathan.
He further said, “Hundreds of heavily armed, well-organized terrorists walked and ran over the border with one [thing] in mind, And that’s to kill, maim, and destroy civilian life within the border."
He also noted that their contact with Israeli officials had been "limited."
