Joe Biden has said he was devastated to learn that a dual US-Israeli citizen thought kidnapped and held in Gaza had actually been killed during Hamas’s 7 October attack.
Itay Chen, 19, was about one year into his military service in the Israeli Armoured Corps when his base near the Gaza border was attacked.
On Tuesday the Israeli Defense Forces said in a statement that Chen, whose name is also spelled Hen, “fell on October 7” and his body taken to the Palestinian territory.
Biden, who had met Chen’s father and brother at the White House in December, expressed his condolences.
“Jill and I are devastated to learn that American Itay Chen was killed by Hamas during its brutal terrorist assault,” Biden said in a statement.
“I reaffirm my pledge to all the families of those still held hostage: we are with you. We will never stop working to bring your loved ones home.”
During the attack, Palestinian militants seized about 250 hostages, dozens of whom were released during a week-long truce in November.
Israel believes about 130 captives remain in Gaza, including 32 presumed dead.
The unprecedented 7 October attack resulted in the deaths of about 1,160 people in Israel, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli figures.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive in Gaza has killed 31,184 people, mostly women, children and adolescents, according to the latest count from the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry.
