All the Americans Still Believed to Be in the Clutches of Hamas

Officials around the globe are scrambling to find and rescue the hundreds of men, women, and children abducted by Hamas terrorists a month after the Oct. 7 attack on Israel.

As of now, 10 Americans are still believed to be held hostage in Gaza—where thousands of civilians have been killed in Israeli bombardment—according to family member statements shared with The Daily Beast and recent interviews.

Two Americans—mother and daughter duo Judith and Natalie Raanan—have been brought home safely. Hamas released them Oct. 20, claiming to have done so for humanitarian reasons. Hamas has also released two Israeli hostages in recent weeks.

U.S. officials have not released the names of Americans still held hostage, but have said a handful are remain unaccounted for since Oct. 7.

Sagui Dekel-Chen

Sagui Dekel-Chen, 35, is still a hostage, his father, Jonathan Dekel-Chen told The Daily Beast in an interview on Tuesday. Sagui, a resident of Kibbutz Nir Oz, first helped his family into a safe room when the terrorists arrived on Oct. 7, then went out to fight them in hand-to-hand combat, The Times of Israel previously reported.

Jonathan Dekel-Chen, who has been working to share the stories of hostages from around the globe, said that the governments of Israel and the United States still have a dearth of information to share about the hostages a month after the abductions.

“We have no information about Sagui’s location or physical condition for that matter… No government agency, Israeli or American, has spoken to us about any negotiations—real, imagined, future, what have you,” Dekel-Chen told The Daily Beast. “Our hope is that certainly the American government is doing everything it can to apply pressure on third parties to gain as much information if not the release of the hostages.”

Itay Chen

Itay Chen, 19, a soldier in the Israeli military, is also still a hostage of Hamas, his father, Ruby Chen, told The Daily Beast Tuesday. Itay is a dual U.S.-Israeli citizen who had been serving in a tank unit near the border with Gaza when the terrorists invaded, according to The Times of Israel.

Chen also said that families have little clarity on whether the United States and Israel are relying on Israeli military operations to try to recover hostages, or whether they are looking to negotiations.

“We are not in that dialogue as families,” Chen told The Daily Beast, adding that he has to have faith that the people working on it are taking the right steps to bring them home. “We have one simple thing to say, is we want our kids back.”

Edan Alexander

Edan Alexander, 19, recently graduated from New Jersey’s Tenafly High School, and had volunteered to serve in the Israeli army after graduation. Officials informed his mother that he was held hostage, a local NBC station reported. As recently as two days ago, Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) confirmed Alexander is still considered a hostage. The family did not immediately return requests for comment.

Gottheimer met with Alexander’s family in recent days in an effort to reassure them that the U.S. government is doing all it can to find him and bring him home to safety. “No family should ever have to experience this unfathomable pain and I will do everything I can to reunite Edan with his family safely,” the congressman said.

Omer Neutra

Omer Neutra, who turned 22 days after the Oct. 7 attack, is still believed to be held by Hamas, according to a story the AP published this week. Israeli officials believe Hamas took Omer, who was born in Manhattan and became an Israeli soldier, along with his unit, which was operating near the Gaza border. The family did not immediately return requests for comment.

Neutra had deferred studying at Binghampton University for just a year to join the military, according to WIVT, an ABC affiliate television station. Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) has met with Neutra’s family, and has said that he will stop at nothing to bring Neutra, the grandson of Holocaust survivors, home. “He went back to join the IDF, was ready to enroll in Binghamton University in a few days and now he’s a capture. He’s a hostage, we have to do everything we can to get the hostages returned safely,” Schumer said at a recent press briefing.

Hersh Goldberg-Polin

Hersh Goldberg-Polin, 23, was attending the music festival in Israel when Hamas terrorists arrived on the scene. His arm was blown off from his elbow down before he was captured and driven off, his mom, Rachel Goldberg, told CNN in a previous interview.

“As horrible as it is as a parent to [see] your kid under gunpoint, with one arm… the composure with which he’s walking on his own legs, pulling himself with his one weak hand onto the truck, gave me a real dose of strength,” Rachel Goldberg told CNN.

Hersh is still held captive, his mom told the AP in a story published this week. The family did not immediately return requests for comment.

Chen Goldshtein Almog and her children Agam, Gal, and Tal

Chen Goldshtein Almog, and her children—her daughter, Agam, 17, and her sons Gal, 11, and Tal, 9—are still believed to be missing. The family did not immediately return requests for comment.

Both sets of grandparents live in Kfar Aza, but were not home that weekend. But the whole family has been affected: Nadav Goldshtein, 49, Chen’s husband, and Yam Goldshtein Almog, 20, their daughter, were killed in the attacks, according to The National. Nadav had been recovering from an injury at the time of the attacks.

Oct. 7 was not the first time the family had been attacked by terrorists. In 2003, five members of the Almog family were killed in a suicide bombing attack in Haifa, according to The Times of Israel. “We’re a family that pays a very high price for this country,” Omri Almog, Chen’s brother said.

Keith Siegel

Keith Siegel, 62, is also still believed to be a hostage, along with his wife, Adrienne or Aviva, 64, whom he met when he moved to Israel about 40 years ago, according to ABC News. The two live in the Kfar Aza kibbutz, which Hamas terrorists stormed a month ago, killing over 100 people.

At the time, they went to their safe house and were sending messages through WhatsApp with their children, but then they went dark, David Siegel, Keith’s brother, told ABC News. The family did not immediately return requests for comment.

“Keith and Adrienne are grandparents, parents. They are innocent people in this circumstance,” David Siegel said. “I can't imagine what they are going through. We want them to be strong and we want them to be released so they can come home.”