On Saturday, October 7, Itay Chen, 19, was on active duty, part of a tank unit that included three other soldiers.
The dual US-Israeli citizen was last heard from at 6:40 a.m., when Hamas terrorists invaded the Gaza border communities, including the area where Chen was stationed.
One week later, Chen’s younger brother, Alon, celebrated his bar mitzvah in a small ceremony in Netanya. Thousands of neighborhood residents came out to support the family and Chen’s parents, US-born Ruby and Hagit, and to pray with them for news about Chen.
The family was notified on Monday, October 9, that Chen is officially considered missing in action, having not been identified in the field, in a hospital, or ascertained to be dead, and is most probably being held hostage in Gaza.
The Brooklyn-born Ruby Chen told The Daily Mail that his son had stayed at the base during the Simchat Torah holiday weekend so that he could return home for his younger brother’s bar mitzvah the following weekend.
Ruby Chen said the last he heard from his “wonderful” son was that his base was under heavy bombardment on that Saturday when Hamas terrorists toppled the border fence and overran Israel’s army bases and communities in the area in a bloody massacre, killing 1,300 and kidnapping over 200 more.
There were three other soldiers with Itay in the tank; one, Tomer Leibowitz, was buried this week. Another, Matan Angrest from Kiryat Bialik, is also missing. The fourth hasn’t been named.