JNF UK welcomes home freed hostage Sagui Dekel-Chen

Released hostage Sagui Dekel-Chen is as “strong and sharp” as he always was after being released from captivity after nearly 500 days in Gaza and wishes to convey gratitude to all those who advocated and prayed for his release, a colleague and friend of his for over 10 years has said.

The 36-year-old, who was released on Saturday after 498 days in captivity after being taken from Kibbutz Nir Oz on October 7, was reunited with his wife, Avital, and three daughters, the youngest of whom was born while he was held hostage.

Sagui is reunited with his wife Avital after his release from Hamas captivity in Gaza after 498 days[Missing Credit]

Yonatan Galon, who is head of the JNF UK’s Israel team and a colleague of Sagui, was among Sagui’s close friends and family who met him in hospital on Monday.

Speaking to the JC shortly after their reunion, Yonatan said: “I can’t find the words to describe [what that was like]. After being anxious about Sagui for so long, to speak with him and hug him, and to see he was still [as] sharp and strong as I remember, I’m speechless. He is still the same person in his mentality.”

The “most important message” Sagui wished to pass on through Yonatan to everyone who advocated for his release by praying or demonstrating, be they friends or JNF UK colleagues in Israel or Britain, was “thank you”.

Sagui and his wife, Avital, in the helicopter after his release on Saturday[Missing Credit]

“To everyone, Sagui says, ‘Thank you’. He understands the wide circle of support that he and his family had throughout the 500 days. Hundreds, thousands of people around the world were asking for his release while he was in the tunnels of Gaza,” Yonatan said.

It was a “very, very emotional” atmosphere in Sheba hospital as Yonatan visited Sagui, who was surrounded by his family and three daughters, including his youngest, Shachar Mazal. Sagui’s eldest daughter “never left” her father’s side during Yonatan’s visit.

Sagui, who is an American Israeli, was also extremely curious about the state of the many JNF UK projects he had been working on before his capture. Like all JNF UK projects, they are aimed at supporting a wide range of infrastructural, educational and community initiatives in the country’s comparatively underdeveloped south.

Sagui reads to two of his children before October 7[Missing Credit]

Yonatan said: “He was asking and asking about them. ‘How is this one doing?’, ‘How is that?’, ‘Did you manage to solve this?’ One of his focuses was working on a disaster relief unit, and he asked how it [fared] on October 7 and he was very happy to hear how it helped. [We spoke] about the ways it can be improved.”

Sagui was asked to work for the charity in 2015 after they witnessed his “astonishing” talent in helping to establish the Bikurim School for the Performing Arts, a boarding school for talented musicians living in Israel’s south periphery, who were unable to relocate to the country’s main music school in Tel Aviv. Supported by JNF UK, the school came about based on the vision of Sagui’s father and of his brother, who is himself a talented musician.

Through that project, Sagui, who was in charge of overseeing the school’s construction, and Yonatan became fast friends.

Sagui (centre) with JNF UK volunteers before October 7(Photo: JNF UK)[Missing Credit]

Working alongside JNF UK’s small team of about six people, Sagui oversaw the building, renovation and equipping of everything from youth clubs to boarding schools in the Negev, community hubs and spaces for neglected and abused girls. “Every project he has worked on or touched has turned to gold,” Yonatan said.

“Seriously, he’s amazing; very sharp, very organised,” Yonatan said. “Sagui is able to complete extremely complicated projects, where every person is pulling in different directions and to put things in order and find solutions. In my 15 years at JNF UK, I’ve [seen] hundreds of project [managers], and [none] are like him. And he does it always with a lot of charm.”

Sagui Dekel-Chen at a JNF UK urban forest project (Photo: JNFnUK)[Missing Credit]

Sagui and Yonatan’s small team were meeting on an “almost daily basis” and were in “constant” communication. “We celebrated holidays together; we went hiking and [on] desert jeep tours, visited each other’s family. It’s not just a team but a very, very close group of friends,” Yonatan said.

“When we found out Sagui was on the list [of hostages to be released], we were jumping, but we were still very worried. We kept telling ourselves that not until he crosses the border will we celebrate,” he said. “When Sagui finally did on that Shabbat morning, all of us were jumping in celebration. We couldn’t stop smiling. I went around with a bottle of whiskey that day, drinking a l’Chaim with everyone.”
As Sagui was transported in a convoy of cars to hospital in Tel Aviv, all windows blacked out, his friends and the JNF UK team waited for him on the side of the road as he went past. They were later informed by Sagui’s family that he was very happy to have spotted them as they waved, carrying Israeli flags and banners.

Sagui (second from left) with Yonatan Golan (second from right) and Yakov Tvito (left) and Dan Shapira (right) before October 7[Missing Credit]

Although it is very early days before Sagui’s long-term health can be assessed, his close-knit group of friends at JNF UK will be there to “support him and his family through every challenge”, said Yonatan.

“While he was in Gaza, I always used to go to try and ring Sagui for consultation on so many things [before realising] I could not. I have joked with Sagui’s wife that [while] the family is at the top of the hierarchy and should get him first, we need him after. Sagui will continue, I hope, to do great things in the future with his life and for Israel.”

Sagui at a JNF UK volunteering project prior to his kidnap on October 7 (Photo: JNF UK)[Missing Credit]

A spokesperson for the London-based JNF UK team said: “"We are overwhelmed with joy that our prayers have been answered and Sagui has returned. Over the years, Sagui has been an instrumental part of JNF UK, contributing to the growth and strengthening of communities across Israel. His work has left an indelible mark on the State of Israel, and his return is a source of immense relief and happiness for all of us.

“While we celebrate Sagui’s return, we remain mindful that many hostages are still awaiting freedom. We continue to pray for their safe return."