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Hamas released more hostages early Saturday morning — including an Israeli-American with ties to Sarasota.
36-year-old Sagui Dekel-Chen was released after being held captive since the Oct. 7th attacks in 2023. Him, along with two others, were exchanged for approximately 370 Palestinian prisoners.
10 Tampa Bay has been speaking to Dekel-Chen’s family for months as they remained hopeful for his release.
After nearly 500 days, Hamas-led militants escorted him to red cross personnel as part of a negotiated ceasefire deal.
Dekel-Chen’s family was full of emotion seeing him for the first time in over a year. Many cried tears of joy and cheered.
His stepmother Gillian Kaye told 10 Tampa Bay a couple of weeks ago about the emotional toll this has had on their family.
“It's an exhausting, emotionally impossible ride to have been on,” Kaye said.
His wife was 7 months pregnant when he was taken captive. During the attacks, she hid in a safe room with their two daughters.
MORE: https://www.wtsp.com/article/news/nation-world/israel-hamas-conflict/finally-free-israeli-american-with-ties-to-sarasota-among-3-hostages-released-by-hamas-on-saturday/67-5bab8129-08e9-4365-b8a8-68eaee9ffd23