Jerusalem, 5 November, 2025 (TPS-IL) — The body of Staff Sgt. Itay Chen was identified on Wednesday morning after being returned from Gaza to Israel overnight.
“The families of the hostages and the returned are embracing the family of Itay Chen at this time,” said the Hostages and Missing Families Forum. “Alongside the grief and the understanding that their hearts will never be whole, Itay’s return provides some measure of comfort to a family that has lived with agonizing uncertainty and doubt for over two years. We will not rest until the last hostage is brought home.”
Born in Brooklyn, the 19-year-old Chen was the last hostage with U.S. citizenship.
Chen served in a tank unit at the Nahal Oz base near the Gaza border. He fell alongside his tank crew members Sgt. Tomer Leibovitz, Capt. Daniel Perez, and Matan Angrest during Hamas’ attack on October 7, 2023. The Israel Defense Forces declared Chen’s death in March 2024 based on intelligence.
“The Government of Israel shares in the deep sorrow of the Chen family and all the families of the deceased abductees,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said in a statement after the National Center for Forensic Medicine confirmed Chen’s remains. “The Hamas terrorist organization is required to fulfill its obligations to the mediators and return them within the framework of implementing the agreement. We will not compromise on this and will spare no effort until we return all of the abductees, down to the last one.”
Chen is survived by his parents and two brothers.
Around 1,200 people were killed and 252 Israelis and foreigners were taken captive by Hamas during the October 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel. The bodies of five Israelis and two foreign nationals are still held in Gaza.
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