Sarasota resident's stepson among more than 100 missing Israelis following Hamas attacks
Gillian Kaye awoke Oct. 7 to every parent’s nightmare. Her stepson was missing.
Sagui Dekel-Chen, 35, was last seen by his family early that Saturday morning in Israel when Hamas destroyed his home as part of an unprecedented attack on Israeli towns near the border with Gaza. He lived at the Kibbutz Nir Oz with his wife, two daughters, and 400 others until it was decimated by the militant group, leaving only around 160 people alive and located.
Kaye, a Sarasota resident, was in Baltimore when she heard the news. She’s been in shock since.
“This is so unfathomable,” she said.
More: Local leaders, Jewish community rally in support of Israel amid Hamas attacks
Saugi Dekel-Chen, who holds dual U.S. and Israeli citizenship, is among an estimated 130 missing Israelis following the attacks. According to his family, he sent his wife and children to the house’s bomb shelter while he confronted the attackers upstairs.
His whereabouts and safety are unknown. Now, Kaye and her family are focusing all of their efforts on finding him.
Saugi Dekel-Chen’s father and Kaye’s husband, Jonathan Dekel-Chen, is a professor at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, also with dual U.S. and Israeli citizenship. He grabbed one of the last plane tickets on an El Al flight and landed in Israel early Tuesday morning. He’s since appeared in a press conference with other relatives of missing Americans pleading for help.
U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan has since become involved with the search efforts. Chloe Conboy, a spokesperson for Rep. Buchanan's office, said he is working with U.S. Rep. Cory Mills, who is currently in Israel, to locate Sagui Dekel-Chen and others missing.
"As soon as Congressman Buchanan learned that an area resident's family member is missing in Israel and presumed to have been taken hostage by Hamas, he stepped in to help," Conboy wrote in an email. "Our office has since been in touch with Sagui Dekel-Chen’s stepmother, as well as the State Department, and provided them with his personal and family information as well as his last known whereabouts."
Sagui Dekel-Chen is warm and funny, Kaye said: a light-up-the-room kind of person. He’s a novice inventor — great with his hands — and he loves nothing more than being a father to his young daughters.
In Israel, Saugi Dekel-Chen is a project manager for the Jewish National Fund and a beloved neighbor. He repurposed an old bus into a mobile grocery store, wheeling his new design into nearby areas where shopping is scarce.
“Incredible energy, unbelievable warmth,” Kaye said. “A smile that literally lights up the universe.”
Kaye and her family are urging Americans to write their representatives in Congress to bolster search and rescue efforts. With no information as to Sagui Dekel-Chen’s whereabouts, Kaye said spreading the word is the only course of action.
She said she’ll keep doing everything she can to locate her stepson.
“We do what needs to get done,” Kaye said. “And what needs to get done is to do everything possible to get Sagui home.”
Contact Herald-Tribune Growth and Development Reporter Heather Bushman at hbushman@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter @hmb_1013.
This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Sarasota resident's stepson among missing Israelis following attacks
