The news that a ceasefire has been reached and hostages are to be released has brought a "bag of mixed emotions" to the family of Itay Chen, a U.S.-Israeli soldier with the Israel Defense Forces, his father, Ruby Chen, told Newsmax Sunday.
Itay Chen, 19, was reportedly killed on Oct. 7, 2023, during the Hamas assault on Israel, but his father said on Newsmax's "Wake Up America Weekend" that there is a possibility that his son is still alive and being held hostage instead, so his family is "stuck in limbo."
"Hamas has not provided any indication, any statement about his physical status and the way that we see it, more than anything, what defines him at the moment is that he's a hostage and we're stuck in limbo like we've kind of been beamed up to an alternative universe," the father said. "We need to know what happened."
But he said he does believe that President-elect Donald Trump's statement about there being "hell to pay" if hostages were not released was an "inflection point" that moved the needle on negotiations.
He added that Steve Witkoff, the special presidential envoy to the Middle East under Trump, has also played a key role, and has "provided the guarantees that the incoming administration will indeed to follow up with the things that were negotiated."
Still, he said he thinks that the people of the United States should feel disappointed that the U.S. hostages in captivity, even after the first phase of the ceasefire, will still be left behind, "including my son. And, I am pretty positive that if President Trump and his team were in the White House for this negotiation, I am positive that all of the U.S. citizens would be coming out."
Ruby Chen described his son as a "fun-loving kid."
"You know, he has an elder and younger sibling so he's the connector of the family," he said. "It's most difficult to have all family dinners, holiday dinners when there's a missing chair."
He added that if his son was killed during the invasion, "he died serving his country, protecting civilians from getting killed by those maniacs. What we need is to get him back and then deal and process whatever is needed."
Meanwhile, once the hostages are released, then "we'll figure out what to do in that small place of hell called Gaza" and make sure Hamas does not return to govern, he said.
"We have the backing of the international community," he added. "[Trump] himself has said that Hamas will not govern in Gaza again and will make sure that, indeed, happens. But at this moment, the eye on the ball [is] getting hostages out, getting to the second phase, and getting the U.S. citizens out of captivity. Then we'll deal with the other stuff we need to deal with."
He added that his family has been invited to Trump's inauguration Monday.
"We are honored to be there, and hopefully we will have our closure and have all the U.S. citizens out soon," he said.
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Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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