Merz met hostage family
Hamas hands over last German hostage to Israel
November 5, 2025 – 11:39 a.mReading time: 2 minutes
Hamas has handed over the body of the last hostage with German citizenship. The Chancellor also met the family of the abducted man beforehand.
The Islamist terrorist organization Hamas has handed over the remains of the last hostage with German citizenship to Israel. “It is with sadness, but also great relief, that I think of the Chen family this morning: their son and brother Itay, the last remaining German hostage, killed in Nahal Oz on October 7th, has returned from Gaza,” wrote the German ambassador to Israel, Steffen Seibert, on the X platform. His family can now finally say goodbye to him.
Itay Chen was an Israeli soldier and had not only Israeli but also German and US citizenship. According to the Israeli army, the 19-year-old was killed during the Hamas massacre on October 7, 2023, and his body was then taken to the Gaza Strip.
More than 250 people were kidnapped in the Gaza Strip in the Hamas attack. Around 30 of them had or received German citizenship during their captivity – the latter because of their family roots in Germany.
Chen’s parents met Chancellor Friedrich Merz in the Chancellery at the end of September. At the time, his father, Ruby Chen, expressed the hope that Germany could play a key role in implementing the peace plan initiated by the USA. “Germany has a very special relationship with Türkiye, and Turkey has influence on Hamas – financially and ideologically,” said Chen. “Perhaps now is the moment to push Turkey harder so that it in turn influences Hamas to accept the plan.”
Hamas has since agreed to parts of the agreement. In the first phase of the US-brokered plan, which is intended to end the Gaza war in the long term, all surviving hostages have already been released in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners. The remains of the killed hostages should also be handed over in full. So far, Hamas has handed over 21 bodies – seven dead, including two foreigners kidnapped from Israel, are still believed to be in Gaza.
