American-Israeli Hostage With Sarasota Ties Freed By Hamas

SARASOTA, FL — An American-Israeli hostage was among three people held captive by Hamas in Gaza for nearly 500 days and released on Saturday, according to a U.S. Department of State news release.

Hamas continues to hold 73 people hostage, including a New Jersey man, the department said.

Sagui Dekel-Chen, 36, who has close family connections in Sarasota, was reunited with his wife, three daughters and father in Israel upon his release from captivity, reports said.

He was part of the sixth group of Hamas hostages released in the first phase of a ceasefire deal with Israel.

Dekel-Chen was present when Hamas stormed Kibbutz Nir Oz on Oct. 7, 2023. During the attack, he hid his pregnant wife and two daughters in a safe room, ABC 7 said. She gave birth to their third daughter two months after he was taken hostage.

"We were so frightened because Hamas refused to say which hostages were dead or alive, and they said who they would release yesterday, but they didn't say the condition," Jewish Federation of Sarasota-Manatee CEO Shepard Englander told Fox 13 news.

Upon his release, Dekel-Chen was “gaunt, malnourished … (and) didn’t have full use of his right arm,” Englander said.

"We didn't want to celebrate until we saw him actually walking out, and it was overwhelming when we saw him, but even more overwhelming was that he's never met his youngest daughter who was born after he was taken hostage," Englander added.

"We are so thrilled that Sagui is home and safe and back with his family," his stepmother, Gillian Kaye, who lives in Sarasota, told WUSF.