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Hamas’s deadly attack on Israel on Saturday and Israel’s bombing of the Gaza Strip have left thousands dead or wounded, and hundreds missing.
One Sarasota woman is searching for her stepson, who is among the missing Israelis.
Gillian Kaye was in Baltimore when she heard about the Saturday attacks. She has stepchildren in Israel.
“We immediately tried to get in contact with all the kids, with everyone. And it was hard, and it was chaotic, and we understood very quickly that Segui was missing.”
Her stepson, Sagui Dekel-Chen, lived at the Kibbutz Nir Oz next to the Gaza Strip with his wife and two daughters. It was invaded by Hamas.
“After Segui got his wife and children and two little girls into the bomb shelter, the safe room in their house, he went out into the house and out into the streets, and with a small group of people, they fought to try to save the Kibbutz for hours, and all of them are missing.”
Sagui’s father, Jonathan Dekel-Chen, flew to Israel Tuesday morning. He was in a press conference in Tel Aviv calling on Israel and the US to share information on locating the missing.
“Really who Segui was, really, such a brave and passionate young man who loves his family and his community.”
Kaye has been writing legislators and media to spread the word about Sagui. She wants to keep Segui, and the hundreds others missing, on the forefront of people’s minds.
“It’s so easy to start to dehumanize the 150 hostages, the hundreds of people dead, but I guess I wanted to share that. That he’s a real person who fought really bravely and we just want to know where he is.”
