Secretary of Declare Antony Blinken vowed Monday that the U.S. “will proceed to work tirelessly” to bring house the four American hostages who have now been held by Hamas for extra than a Twelve months inner the Gaza Strip.
The four that live — Keith Siegel, 65, Sagui Dekel-Chen, 36, Omer Neutra, 22, and Edan Alexander, 21 — were kidnapped by the Palestinian terrorist neighborhood exactly one Twelve months ago Monday on Oct. 7, 2023. The abductions took space alongside the abolish of roughly 1,200 Israelis.
“Hamas furthermore took 254 other folks hostage that day, at the side of 12 American citizens. Four of these American citizens – Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Itay Chen, Judy Weinstein, and Gad Haggai – were murdered by Hamas. Four were launched thru an settlement the United States negotiated closing November, but four live in captivity in Gaza: Edan Alexander, Keith Siegel, Sagui Dekel-Chen, and Omer Neutra,” Blinken acknowledged in an announcement.
“There are furthermore an estimated 97 other hostages who live held in Gaza this day. They consist of men, girls folk, younger boys, younger girls, two infants, and aged other folks from extra than 25 international locations,” Blinken added. “Hamas ought to aloof release these hostages trusty away. Every single one among them ought to be returned to their households, and the United States will proceed to work tirelessly to bring them house.”
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Blinken, who on Monday called Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel the “biggest bloodbath of Jews since the Holocaust,” furthermore acknowledged “It is time to reach a ceasefire settlement that brings the hostages house, alleviates the struggling of the Israeli and Palestinian other folks, and finally brings an stop to this warfare.”
The youngest of the hostages, 20-Twelve months-extinct Edan Alexander, graduated from Tenafly Excessive School in Recent Jersey in 2022 forward of volunteering to assist with the IDF.
“He was once kidnapped Oct. seventh from his put up, from the IDF put up, and since then, we haven’t any extra info about this abduction,” his father Adi has acknowledged.
Adi and his necessary other Yael wrote an belief allotment in the Recent York Times in September saying that for a total bunch of days “the enviornment has failed our son and his fellow hostages: The Israeli authorities has deserted them, too many countries have grew to turn out to be a blind leer, and while we’re grateful for the U.S. authorities’s steadfast wait on, its efforts have but to yield results.
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Omer Neutra, 22, furthermore volunteered to assist in the IDF, in accordance with his other folks Orna and Ronen.
“He’s savor an all-American cramped one. He loved sports actions. He was once permitted to Binghamton University, but decided to defer this faculty. And he went to Israel on a hole Twelve months, and he connected deeply with the country, with his peers, and he decided to volunteer to the IDF, and he was once taken from his put up,” his mother Orna has acknowledged.
She only currently told the Recent York Put up from her house in Plainview, Recent York, “Our cramped one is a bargaining chip in this geopolitical nightmare, and we, the households, we’re superb floating on this wave. We’re making an try no longer to sink.”
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Jonathan Dekel-Chen, whose 36-Twelve months-extinct son Sagui is aloof being held in Gaza following Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack, acknowledged in an interview with “Fox & Chums” in September, “It is fully distinct, the most fascinating system to win hostages house alive is by some extra or much less negotiated settlement with Devil.”
Dekel-Chen was once kidnapped by Hamas in Kibbutz Nir Ouncesone Twelve months ago, in accordance with the American Jewish Committee. The group acknowledged he made distinct his then-pregnant necessary other and his two daughters were secure in a safe haven forward of confronting Hamas terrorists who had broken into his house.
Closing November, Elan Siegel, the daughter of 65-Twelve months-extinct Keith Siegel, wrote in a column for Fox Recordsdata Digital, “They compelled my other folks, unassuming other folks filled with kindness and a silent sensitivity, into my father’s automobile and took them to Gaza.”
Siegel’s necessary other Aviva later was once launched from captivity.
“It’s superb cruel to mediate that he’s in such abominable prerequisites for so long,” Aviva Siegel only currently told the Recent York Put up. “What they’re going thru is the cruelest thing on Earth.”
The our bodies of American citizens Itay Chen 19, Gadi Haggai, 73, and his necessary other Judith Weinstein, 70, furthermore live held by Hamas in Gaza.
Fox Recordsdata’ Ashley Carnahan and Danielle Wallace contributed to this portray.
