And before this vote, I had a chance to speak to the father of Ruby Chen, whose 19 year old son has been missing since the October 7 attacks on Israel by Hamas. We know that his son remains a hostage because this vote only allows for the release of women and children. Here's our conversation. Mr. Chen, thank you so much for talking to us, which during what we know is an unbearable time. I understand that your son Etai is an American Israeli soldier with the IDF. He was last seen patrolling the border with Gaza. Have you had any news at all about his whereabouts?

Unfortunately not. We say evening 47 he, to be precise, was abducted and kidnapped on October 7, and since then, we have not gotten any indication of his health condition or his whereabouts. But according to the IDF, he is in Gaza.

What are the chances that your son will be part of this initial round of hostage negotiations? Are you being told anything?

Slim to none. The initial deal is about women and children, but we need to be joyful for the families that will be united, because they are part of our family. Now. Let's call it getting to first base, where hopefully this is a framework for additional deals to happen.

There was a father I heard the other day during a press conference whose child is missing, and he was saying that Israel is too focused on killing Palestinians than saving Israelis. Your thoughts on that?

I think what happened and is happening to the Palestinians in Gaza is terrible. But I think we also need to acknowledge the fact that the Palestinian people are being held hostage by Hamas as well. It is highly unfortunate what happened, but let's not forget how this started. The Hamas terrorist organization went out and killed, massacred, burned people, raped women, beheaded kids.

Has anyone from the US government reached.

Out to you directly after October 7? A couple of days after, we had a zoom call with President Biden himself. The call was supposed to be for 15 minutes, and after 15 minutes, his aide wanted to move him on to the next topic. But he actually looked at his aide and told him, last time that I checked, I am the US president of the United States, and I will tell you when this meeting should end. And he stayed on the call with us for about an hour and a half.

I don't want to make you relive these traumatic few weeks, but can you just share with us what life has been like for you and your family, how you make it through each day?

Yeah. Pain is an understatement. It's difficult to explain the feelings that we go each day. It starts by not knowing if you are in a sprint or a marathon and ends by working for 20 hours. And when you kind of feel exhausted at the end of the day, you ask yourself, have I been productive? What have I done to help my son get released? And when you try to answer that question and do not have a good answer, it is highly frustrating not knowing what you should do. And how.

How would you describe your son? And if you were to be able to get a message to him right now, what would you say?

Yeah, so he's a spunky kid. He played professional basketball, age of 18. He needed to earn his minutes on the court. So he was a spunky kid and played defense. And hopefully the combination of being spunky, tough New Yorker when that moment happened where he needed to survive, somehow, some way, hopefully, he was able to be able to get to the other side. And hopefully now, wherever he might not be, he's alive. And thinking of the good memories that we have together as a family. Going to Finway park. Seeing big poppy hit a home one going. Seeing the knicks play. Good memories that we have. Going to coney island. Hopefully he's in a good place. Thinking of family moments that we had.

And hopefully you'll be able to make new memories once again. Mr. Chen, we thank you so much for talking with us and hope to talk to you again with good news of your son soon.

Yeah, next time we talk at Coney Island.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office released a statement saying, in part, the government of Israel is committed to the safe return of the hostages home. And continuing with the government of Israel, the IDF and the Israeli security forces will continue to fight the war for the return of all hostages, the elimination of Hamas, and to ensure that God it will not pose a threat to Israel.

Hi, everyone. George Stephanopoulos here. Thanks for checking out the ABC News YouTube channel. If you'd like to get more videos, show highlights, and watch live event coverage, click on the right over here to subscribe to our channel. And don't forget to download the ABC News app for breaking news alerts. Thanks for watching.