“Sheer hell”: Remains of 19-year-old Itay Chen — the last U.S. hostage from Gaza — returned, father says closure remains incomplete

Remains of 19-year-old Itay Chen returned to family; father says the sense of closure is incomplete

The remains of 19-year-old Itay Chen — long described as the last American hostage held in Gaza — were returned to his family last week. His father, Ruby Chen, said the return brought relief but not full closure after two years of uncertainty.

"We’ve been living in a kind of suspension for two years," Ruby Chen told NewsNation. "The last two weeks have been sheer hell. Now, we kind of need to learn to walk again, walking in a different way. It’s needing to put one step after the other and understanding how to … get back into the living."

Background: Itay Chen, a dual U.S.-Israeli citizen who served in the Israeli military, is believed to have been killed on Oct. 7, 2023, during the Hamas incursion into southern Israel. That attack killed nearly 1,200 people, mostly Israelis, and led to hundreds being taken hostage.

The Chen family became vocal advocates for the return of all hostages — both the living and the deceased — as the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza continued. Under a U.S.-brokered ceasefire reached earlier this year, militants released 20 remaining living hostages. Officials said recovering the remains of the 28 deceased would take longer; according to the Associated Press, as of Sunday four sets of remains had not yet been handed over.

Ruby Chen said he will continue pressing for the return of the remaining remains. "It’s an obligation that all the families took upon themselves when this happened Oct. 7. We said, ‘All for one and one for all,’" he said.

This return marks an end to one chapter for the Chen family but also underscores the ongoing pain faced by families awaiting answers and the complex, often slow process of recovering remains in active or recently active conflict zones.

Reporting referenced NewsNation and the Associated Press.