Father demanding his son be released after being captured by Hamas

SARASOTA, Fla. — As the Israel-Hamas war continues, local leaders in Manatee and Sarasota counties are advocating for the release of hostages held by Hamas. 

Sarasota resident Jonathan Dekel-Chen’s son is one of the hostages. He said he remembers the chaos that erupted on Oct.  7, 2023, when Hamas attacked Israel.

“My life got lived until the seventh of October,” he said.

For him and so many others, time stopped.

“Within 12 hours, they had killed more than 1,200 people, conducted mass rape, mass looting, and took 240 hostages,” he said.

That day, Hamas invaded his town in Kibbutz Nir Oz near the border with Gaza, where he and his family and four kids live.

“Seventy-nine were from my home, my community Kibbutz Nir Oz,” Dekel-Chen said. “My son was among them. He’s still held captive in Gaza.”

Back in April, the Israeli government reported that 129 hostages were still being held. His 35-year-old son, Sagui Dekel-Chen, is among them.

When he was kidnapped, Sagui Dekel-Chen left behind family, including his wife and three little girls. They say it’s been months since they’ve had any information about how he’s doing.

“The last positive proof of life from Sagui is from late November, early December,” Jonathan Dekel-Chen said. “There’s absolutely no guarantee of his condition today.”

Jonathan says his son has dedicated his entire life to helping others.

“I think about Sagui, and I smile,” he said. “I think about a guy who walks into a room and just lights it up by force of personality.”

And when that light was taken, Jonathan says he received help right away.

“Within a couple of days after the attack, all of the U.S. citizens received phone calls from the U.S. embassy in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, just to let us know that they were aware that our loved ones had been abducted and they were going to be as helpful as they possibly could,” Jonathan said. “Within a couple of days after that, we were getting phone calls from the State Department in D.C. and from the FBI.”

Since then, he’s been in communication with the Biden administration and other leaders to help get these hostages released.

“Of the hostages that still remain, they are citizens of 24 countries,” Jonathan said. “This is not just an Israeli problem or an American problem — this is a global problem.”

He says it’s been a living hell, but he lives each day holding onto faith that his son is still alive.

“The thing that I’m most hoping for, and up every day for, amid the challenge of doing that, is to have my son reunited with his three little girls and with his wife,” Jonathan said. “That’s mission No. 1. And I will never stop. I would imagine, like all hostage families, I will never stop.”