IDF announces American-Israeli hostage was murdered Oct. 7

Omer Neutra was an IDF officer who was abducted with his tank crew, two of whom have already been declared dead.

By Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News

The IDF announced Monday that it had enough evidence to declare that American-Israeli lone soldier and hostage Omer Neutra has been dead since Hamas-led forces invaded Israel last October 7.

Captain Neutra, 21, was a tank platoon commander in the Seventh Brigade’s 77th Battalion. He was stationed at the “White House” outpost near the Gazan border when thousands of terrorists broke through the fence and he and his crew joined the battle to stop them.

Video taken by the terrorists of the crew being hauled out of their tank was posted online quickly, and their tank going up in flames as jubilant terrorists celebrated around it became one of the iconic images of October 7.

The IDF had declared long ago that both tank driver Shaked Dahan and loader Oz Daniel had died in Hamas captivity. On the video itself, a burst of gunfire can be heard and then one soldier is seen lying still on the ground.

The whole crew was taken into Gaza.

While it was suspected that Neutra had also been murdered, his death was only recently determined by a group of specialists who spent months examining all the findings and information uncovered over the months, and then presented them to the Chief Rabbi who agreed with their professional assessment.

The fate of tank gunner Nimrod Cohen, who was seized as well, is as yet officially unknown.

His father told Ynet Tuesday that the family has received “along the way” some unspecified “indications” that their son is still alive.

Neutra’s parents, Ronen and Orna, had addressed the Republican National Convention in July, trying to raise awareness and support for all the hostages.

They told the crowd that the soon-to-be reelected president Donald Trump had called the American-Israeli couple personally shortly after their son was abducted along with 250 others during the day the Palestinian terrorists massacred 1,200 people, sparking the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip.

The couple had just spoken Sunday at a New York rally for the hostages, calling on President Joe Biden and President-elect Trump to combine forces to create a deal enabling all the 101 remaining abductees to return home, including the approximately 40% who are already known to be dead.

“Seize the moment, work together, before January,” they pleaded. “This can be a moment that unites us all.”

Neutra had been born and raised in Long Island but had been “the most Sabra [Israeli] possible,” his friends said of him.

It was “clear to him,” said his parents, that he would serve in the IDF, even if it meant being far from his parents and brother.

Mourning him, Defense Minister Yisrael Katz said Monday, “Omer, who grew up in New York and chose to immigrate to Israel out of a deep sense of mission, fell in a heroic battle near Nir Oz on October 7, 2023 and was kidnapped to the Gaza Strip by Hamas murderers.”

“Omer’s life story and dedication represent the best and strongest of us as a people,” he added. “A fighter who stood bravely in the battle … and sacrificed his life for the security of the State of Israel against the worst of our enemies.”

The Hostages and Missing Families Forum eulogized Omer as a person “who loved sports, played soccer, basketball and volleyball and was captain of the teams at school. His family and friends have said that he is a warm, optimistic person who loved people and would ‘light up the room’ whenever he entered.”