‘When was the last time you talked to your kid? Do you know where he slept last night? Do you know what he ate? Do you know if he had a blanket on him?’ Ruby Chen, father of Itay Chen who was taken by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023, asked in a sit-down interview with Fox News Digital.
‘All those types of questions are questions that we ask ourselves constantly,’ he said. ‘The feeling is that we’ve been failed.’
Itay,19 years old when he was taken, has remained a hostage held in Gaza for 365 days after his unit in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) was attacked in southern Israel when Hamas terrorists flooded the border in a series of mass assaults.
Chen, a New York City native, said he and his wife have been given ‘unprecedented’ access to the White House, the CIA and other top agencies throughout the last year to discuss ongoing strategies to try and get the hostages out of Gaza.
The Chens have not only met with national security adviser Jake Sullivan a dozen times, as well as CIA Director William Burns and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, they also hold a weekly call with the White House.
But ultimately, these supportive efforts have fallen flat when it comes to the real needs of American families whose loved ones are still held hostage by Hamas.
‘We have been failed by the Israeli government, we, as U.S. citizens, feel we’ve been failed by the Biden administration despite all of the access that they’ve provided us,’ he explained. ‘They share as much as they can. But at the end of the day, it’s… very black and white.
‘Where is he?’
Chen explained that following the Oct. 7 attacks on Israel, the Israeli government pushed a strategy to secure the release of the then 251 hostages by bombarding suspected Hamas positions in Gaza.
In the initial weeks following the deadly Hamas attacks, Israel began pounding northern Gaza – a move Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu believed would bring Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar ‘to his knees’ and make him be ‘willing to release hostages.’
A week-long cease-fire in November saw the release of 105 hostages. Twelve other hostages have been freed following negotiations during the immediate aftermath of the attack, or because of IDF rescue operations between February and August.
None of the eight American hostages that were kidnapped have been released, and only seven continue to be held by Hamas after the body of Hersh Goldberg-Polin was discovered by IDF forces in late August, after he along with five others were killed by the terrorist group.
More than 100 hostages remain in captivity in the Gaza Strip – 97 of whom were abducted on Oct. 7, 2023.
The Chens, other American families and the international community have repeatedly urged Israel and Hamas to reach a cease-fire agreement and return all hostages to their families.
But disagreements over security corridors in Gaza have created a seemingly insurmountable hurdle as U.S., Egyptian and Qatari officials work to get Israel and Hamas to reach an agreement.
The father of the IDF soldier pointed out that so long as no one is discussing a ‘day after’ plan for the Gaza Strip and the Palestinians there, Hamas will continue to hold tightly to its most powerful bargaining chip, the hostages.
‘Where is Hamas in the day-after? And if no one is willing to talk about it, then Hamas believes that they are better off holding on to the hostages until something changes,’ he explained. ‘It’s a jihad organization. They wish to have chaos. They are looking for a regional conflict.
‘When they see that there’s now a conflict with Lebanon, that does not motivate them to get into a cease-fire agreement. On the contrary, they wish to belong, and have other players join in this jihad against Israel,’ Chen continued. ‘So I question, what is the plan?’
‘I am very critical of the time,’ Itay’s father said. ‘The last 10 months, I’ve been asking Mr. Sullivan, What’s plan B?
‘I haven’t heard of a Plan B. And that’s unacceptable,’ he added.
Securing peace in the region became even more precarious last week after Israel, against the objections of the U.S. and its international allies, launched an incursion into southern Lebanon with the expressed intent of dismantling the threat posed by Hezbollah.
Chen pointed out that this second front not only added another dimension to securing the release of the hostages, but it also seemingly pushed talks with Hamas on the backburner as concerns remain high over a broader regional conflict.
‘If you could follow the news, you could see that the hostage issue has been less prioritized,’ he said. ‘And that’s a very difficult feeling for us and the families.’
Netanyahu has said his top priority is securing the release of the hostages, but his refusal to withdraw from the Philidelphi Corridor due to security reasons has created a negotiation impasse and questions have begun to mount over whether the prime minister is truly prioritizing the hostages over his push to ‘eliminate Hamas.’
But the parents of Itay – who has been described as a ‘fun-loving kid,’ the ‘sandwich’ of the family with an older sibling and younger sibling, everybody’s ‘best friend,’ and a former Boy Scout turned a young man with a loving girlfriend – cannot allow for him, or the others still in Gaza, to be at the mercy of any political agenda.
‘I’m a guy that comes from New York City – and we talk less, we look at actions. The actions of the last year show the opposite.’ Chen said. ‘He can say whatever he wants. I don’t believe a thing that comes out of his mouth, I believe in what he does.’
The father of three also urged the Biden administration to question whether it is still in the U.S.’s strategic interest to unequivocally back Netanyahu.
‘There is no accountability from either side for failed negotiation. You do not see any equation that says, ‘OK, if you do not do A, then there’s a consequence’ on either side,’ Chen said in reference to both Israel and Hamas. ‘There’s no consequence associated with a negative action to a strategic interest of the United States.’
Chen also argued that ‘effective pressure’ needs to be put on Hamas by reevaluating what other ‘pressure points’ can be utilized.
The father pointed to the clear need for tougher economic and diplomatic involvement when it comes to international aid sent to Gaza – including tougher sanctions not only on adversarial nations but on partner countries that allow aid to flow into Gaza.
This includes stricter oversight of United Nations-provided humanitarian aid, which though intended for the Palestinian people, is falling into the hands of Hamas, a group that is not designated as a terrorist organization by the UN.
Hamas has long been accused of seizing basic goods in Gaza and then reselling them in a black-market scheme at exuberant prices.
Reports have further indicated that Hamas for years has had substantial access to monetary aid siphoned from funds provided by top organizations like the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), which has been directly used for combatant operations against Israel, including tunnel building and access to arms.
But aside from the substantial need to address aid-based concerns, Chen also argued that diplomatic solutions are not being fully recognized by the U.S.
Nations like Russia and Thailand secured the release of their citizens taken by Hamas, and Chen argued Washington – which was able to negotiate with its biggest adversary just months ago to free U.S. citizens from Russian prisons – should be working to do the same to secure the release of those held in Gaza.
‘So, it’s possible,’ Chen said. ‘Complicated, yep. Doable, yep.’
‘The assumption that was put in front of us at the beginning was that U.S. hostages will come out via a larger deal that Israel will be a part of. And if that assumption is not working out after a year, then yes, we need to challenge the administration and look at that assumption.
‘Is that still valid after one year?’