A memorial service can be held on Lengthy Island Tuesday for an Israeli American soldier who was believed to have been taken hostage alive on Oct. 7, 2023, and is now presumed to have been killed throughout Hamas’ assault and his physique taken into Gaza, in line with the Israel navy.
Omer Neutra, 21, was a New York native who enlisted within the Israeli navy and was captured when Hamas attacked southern Israel. Neutra’s mother and father, Ronen and Orna, led a public marketing campaign whereas he was regarded as alive for his or her son’s freedom. They spoke at protests within the U.S. and Israel, addressed the Republican Nationwide Conference this yr and saved up ties with the Biden administration of their campaign to safe their son’s launch.
In a press release asserting the demise, the navy didn’t say the way it got here to the conclusion over Neutra’s destiny. He was one among seven American Israelis nonetheless held in Gaza, 4 of whom at the moment are mentioned to be lifeless. Hamas launched a video of 1, Edan Alexander, over the weekend, indicating he was nonetheless alive.
Neutra’s household launched a press release on Monday, saying they spent the final 423 residing by means of an “unimaginable nightmare.”
“We are grateful that Omer embraced and lived his life in line with the values on which we raised him — protecting the sanctity of life and an understanding of our commitment to one another — but we never imagined in our worst nightmares that we would find ourselves spending this time continuing to fight for him in this way.”
Monday’s memorial service is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. on Tuesday at Halfway Jewish Heart in Syosset. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and different elected officers are anticipated to attend.
Funeral companies for Neutra have been held Monday at Temple Chaverim in Syosset.
Hochul ordered flags lowered to half-mast on the day of Neutra’s funeral. The governor expressed grief and outrage on Monday, saying “as a parent, I can’t imagine what they’re going through today.”
As just lately as Sunday, Neutra’s mother and father had been urging world leaders to win the hostages’ launch, together with at a rally in Central Park.
Days earlier, Hamas launched a hostage video of Edan Alexander, who was serving within the Israeli navy when he was taken by Hamas to Gaza. Filmed underneath obvious duress, Alexander referred to as on Trump to work to barter for his freedom and that of the remaining Hamas hostages.
Hamas remains to be holding round 100 hostages inside Gaza, a minimum of a 3rd of whom are believed to be lifeless. The Biden administration says it’s making one other last-ditch push for a ceasefire and the discharge of the remaining hostages, after almost a yr of oblique negotiations between Israel and Hamas repeatedly stalled.
Diplomats see a possible opening after final week’s ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah militant group, an ally of Hamas that started launching rocket assaults and buying and selling hearth with Israel the day after the Oct. 2023 assault.
The delicate ceasefire has held regardless of repeated Israeli strikes which have angered Lebanese officers however not but triggered a response from Hezbollah. Israel says it has acted to thwart potential assaults.
In late summer season, Hamas killed Hersh Goldberg-Polin, one other distinguished Israeli American hostage, together with 5 different captives, whose our bodies the Israeli navy recovered.
The struggle in Gaza started when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 individuals, largely civilians, and taking round 250 hostage. Some 100 captives are nonetheless held inside Gaza, round two-thirds believed to be alive.
In a put up on his Reality Social web site, Trump referred to as for Palestinian militants to free the entire roughly 100 Israeli hostages nonetheless held inside Gaza, round two-thirds of whom are believed to be alive.
If not, Trump mentioned, “Those responsible will be hit harder than anybody has been hit in the long and storied History of the United States of America. RELEASE THE HOSTAGES NOW!”
It was not instantly clear whether or not Trump was threatening to straight contain the U.S. navy in Israel’s ongoing marketing campaign in opposition to Hamas in Gaza. Trump allies have mentioned he hopes there can be a ceasefire and hostage launch deal earlier than he returns to workplace early subsequent yr.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s workplace declined to touch upon Trump’s put up although President Isaac Herzog welcomed it.
Israel’s ongoing retaliatory offensive has killed a minimum of 44,429 Palestinians, greater than half of them girls and youngsters, in line with Gaza’s Well being Ministry, which doesn’t say how lots of the lifeless have been combatants. Israel says it has killed over 17,000 militants, with out offering proof.
The struggle has destroyed huge areas of the coastal enclave and displaced 90% of the inhabitants of two.3 million, usually a number of occasions.
