Hamas returned the body of American-Israeli Capt. Omer Neutra to Israel on Sunday, a bittersweet handover his father marked with Jeremiah’s line that “your children shall return to their own land” — “Our Omer is on Israeli soil … so much pain, and so much relief.”
Speaking aboard Air Force One as it flew from Mar-a-Lago back to Washington, President Donald Trump said he had spoken with Neutra’s parents and confirmed that one of three sets of remains transferred Sunday was their son. “We got Neutra … I spoke to his parents,” the president said, noting Israel had received three bodies via the Red Cross and that efforts continue “for the remainder.”
His remarks underscored that under the October 10 agreement, Hamas was required to return all 20 living hostages within 72 hours and the 28 deceased it could locate in that window — a timetable Israel says Hamas has missed amid piecemeal, delayed transfers.
Israeli officials said the coffins were received by IDF and Shin Bet personnel inside Gaza and taken to the National Center for Forensic Medicine in Tel Aviv for identification — the formal step after a string of erratic handovers in which Hamas intermittently returned remains. The process was further marred last week after a staged deception on Monday; the Red Cross issued a rare public statement on Tuesday condemning the fake “retrieval.”
At Sunday’s cabinet meeting, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu charged that Hamas is “dragging its feet” and vowed to “gradually bring back all our hostages,” while the IDF says Hamas has at least two bodies that could be returned immediately and estimates it does not know the location of only three to five more.
Neutra’s parents, Orna and Ronen, said they can finally bury their son with dignity. “With heavy hearts and a deep sense of relief — we share the news that Captain Omer Neutra has finally been returned for burial in the land of Israel,” the family said, after years of “waiting for certainty, holding out hope.”
New York lawmakers who have worked closely with the Neutra family since October 7 praised their resolve, calling the return a necessary step toward closure for a Long Island family that never stopped advocating for the hostages.
Neutra, 21, the grandson of Holocaust survivors, grew up in Plainview, Long Island, his hometown. After high school, he deferred from Binghamton University to enlist through Garin Tzabar — a program that facilitates IDF service and provides a support network for lone soldiers from Israel and the Diaspora who do not have parents in the country. On October 7, 2023, his tank was hit and disabled near Nir Oz, and he and his crew were abducted; in December 2024, the IDF concluded he was killed that day and taken into Gaza.
Plainview later honored him by renaming a street “Captain Omer Neutra Way” and dedicating a park — giving the community a permanent place to honor his service, including a basketball court reflecting the die-hard Knicks fan’s love of the game.
Officials said that if all three of Sunday’s remains are verified as hostages, the number of deceased hostages still in Gaza would fall to eight; with Neutra’s return confirmed, identification of the other two continued Sunday night — a reminder that, even as one American family can at last lay their son to rest, the task is not yet finished.
Joshua Klein is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at jklein@breitbart.com. Follow him on Twitter @JoshuaKlein.
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