SARASOTA, Fla. — The conflict in faraway Israel is having some impact close to home, here in Tampa Bay.
A Sarasota woman says her stepson, who lives in one of the kibbutz attacked by Hamas militants, is missing.
Loved ones say 35-year-old Sagui Dekel-Chen hasn't been heard from since Saturday and his family is desperate to find him.
"My stepson Sagui lives there with his wife, Avital, and their two kids," Gillian Kaye said.
Kaye said an alarming text message Saturday morning alerted her about Hamas' attacks in southern Israel.
She was in Baltimore with her husband for a wedding when a friend sent a message to check on them.
That's when she discovered how dire the situation was for her family in the Middle East. Since then, she has been on edge constantly looking for news about the people of Kibbutz Nir Oz.
According to Kaye, Dekel-Chen was last seen securing his pregnant wife and children in a bunker. Another person told them they had last seen him fending off attackers who killed or abducted around 240 of the community's 400 residents during their hours-long siege.
"We are desperately trying to find out, like so many other families, where he is, what happened to him? Is he in Gaza with Hamas?" she said.
Her stepson's family was eventually rescued. Kaye said unlike some of the other families, their bunker was impenetrable and could not be opened from the outside. The Israeli military evacuated them along with 160 other survivors from Kibbutz Nir Oz but there still has been no sign of Dekel-Chen.
Kaye's husband is now in Tel Aviv to help find their son.
"Just to get information to know that Sagui is OK, of course, to bring him home but I know he's OK. We know how strong is the strong heart of a lion," Kaye said.
Kaye said the situation has been extremely traumatizing for their family on both sides of the world.
"I can't even imagine what they are going through, what they are feeling right now having witnessed it, having been there, having had to walk outside their homes and see bodies on the ground, people they know, people they love and grew up with and with Sagui missing and having to hold his wife and kids through all of this I can't imagine," she said.
For Kaye, her wider hope for this situation is for a quick and lasting resolution.
"I hope is that in some way, young people, old people, Palestinians, Israelis, I don't care who they are, will stop dying because this hate just breeds more hate and more death," she said. "My hope is just that people will find a way for people to stop dying."
U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan's office says he is collaborating with U.S. Rep. Cory Mills to help locate Sagui Dekel-Chen and other missing Americans.