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Four confirmed American hostages remain held captive by Hamas terrorists one year after the Oct. 7 attacks on Israel, while the remains of three others have yet to be released to the families for a proper burial, according to the American Jewish Committee.
The family members of these hostages are demanding action. According to the New York Post, 20-year-old hostage Edan Alexander called his mother, Yael Alexander, when the attacks broke out on Oct. 7, 2023, before he was captured.
She recalled living through the separation this past year during a vigil in Central Park in Manhattan on Sunday. Yael stated, “As a mother, I can’t describe the pain of not knowing where your child is. Our hearts are broken, but we will never stop fighting for his return. The world must understand how urgent this is,” the Post noted.
“It’s been a year, and no humanitarian organization has been allowed to see them,” she added, calling for peace and “action.”
The parents of 22-year-old Hamas hostage Omar Neutra noted during an interview with the New York Post that they fear he will not return home alive. His father, Ronan Neura, referenced the six hostages who were killed in August and added, “If we don’t hurry, that’s what we’re gonna get.”
“Our kid is a bargaining chip in this geopolitical nightmare, and we, the families, we’re just floating on this wave,” Neutra concluded, “We’re trying not to sink.”
Co-founder of Boundless Israel Avival Klompas has been following the situation from day one and reminded Americans of Sagui Dekel Chen’s captivity over the summer. His work converting old buses into mobile classrooms in Israel was stopped by the Oct. 7 attacks when he was forced to warn his wife and children to hide in a bomb shelter before defending their home.
According to the American Jewish Committee, Dekel-Chen was reportedly seen alive by hostages who were released.
64-year-old Keith Siegal and his wife Aviva (a kindergarten teacher from South Africa) were captured on Oct 7, but she was released after 51 days with Hamas terrorists.
She described her captivity to the New York Post as “the cruelest thing on Earth,” and added that she fears for her husband’s heath as he remains captive in small tunnels without adequate food, water, or oxygen.
Aviva is now seeking action. “I just can’t take it anymore,” she told the New York Post “I’ve decided the next thing I want to do is ask Benjamin Netanyahu, ask Biden, how am I supposed to manage it knowing that Keith is there?”
But three families of fallen Americans are seeking another form of justice. They merely wish to receive the remains of their loved ones, 73-year-old Gadi Haggai, and English teacher Judi Weinstein Haggai were murdered during the Oct. 7 massacre, as well as nineteen-year-old Itay Chen, via the American Jewish Committee.
The New York teenager’s father, Ruby Chen, received news that his son was killed during the Oct. 7 attacks last March, via The Jerusalem Post, but has held out hope. He also described the failures of the Biden administration seeking further action.
During an interview with Fox News, he stated, “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.”
“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,” Chen went on.
“It’s a jihad organization. They wish to have chaos. They are looking for a regional conflict.”
He asked, “What’s the plan?” and added “I haven’t heard of a Plan B. And that’s unacceptable.”