SYOSSET, N.Y. (AP) — For more than a year, Ronen and Orna Neutra have held out hope that their son, Omer, was alive, captured by Hamas following its attack on Israel last Oct. 7.
But Monday, the Israeli military acknowledged the painful truth: The 21-year-old had not been taken hostage, but was killed during the group’s surprise attack on the Nova Music Festival that sparked the latest conflict in the Middle East.
Speaking at a memorial service Tuesday at the Long Island synagogue where his son celebrated his bar mitzvah years earlier, Ronen Neutra said he was at a loss for words.
After spending months telling his son’s story and pleading for his release at numerous rallies in the U.S. and abroad, news of his death “left us breathless and empty,” he said.
“For over a year now, we’ve been breathing life into your being, my beautiful boy,” Orna Neutra, Omer’s mother, said through tears. “With the hope and love of so many, we kept going and going and going, keeping you alive, speaking your name from every outlet, pushing any hint of despair, not stopping to breathe or to take in the deep pain of your absence.”
“Now things are clear,” she told the packed service at the Midway Jewish Center in Syosset. “But not as we’d hoped.”
The couple have been a regular presence at protests in the U.S. and Israel. They also addressed the Republican National Convention this year and maintained contact with outgoing Democratic President Joe Biden’s administration in their effort to secure their son’s release.
Daniel Neutra, Omer’s younger brother, vowed the family would continue to honor his life’s work by continuing to call for the release of the remaining hostages and an end to the war.
“It is too late for him, but it was not in vain,” he said.
Omer Neutra was born in Manhattan just weeks after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, his parents recounted during the service, which was also attended by Gov. Kathy Hochul and other local politicians.
The grandson of Holocaust survivors, he attended a Jewish school on Long Island where he was captain of the basketball, soccer and volleyball teams, they said.
He was offered admission to the State University of New York at Binghamton, but instead deferred, took a gap year and then moved to Israel to enlist in the army.
Ronen Neutra called Israel his son’s “true love” and said he had insisted on serving on the frontline. His unit was among the first to respond to Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack.
“You gave too much, too soon,” Orna Neutra said.
The Israel Defense Forces have not said how they determined that Neutra died in the attack and was not taken hostage, as initially thought.
But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife, Sara Netanyahu, said in a joint statement that he “fought fiercely at the head of his soldiers” to defend Israeli settlements “until he fell.”
They added that they “will not rest or be silent” until his body is recovered from the Palestinian territory of Gaza.
Biden and first lady Jill Biden said in a statement Monday they were “devastated and outraged” to learn of Neutra’s death. They said he planned to return to college in the U.S. and “dreamed of dedicating himself to building peace.”
“To all the families of those still held hostage: We see you. We are with you. And I will not stop working to bring your loved ones back home where they belong,” the statement reads.
Hamas-led militants took around 250 hostages when they stormed into southern Israel last October, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians.
Some 100 captives are still held inside Gaza, with around two-thirds believed to be alive.
Neutra was one of seven American Israelis still held in Gaza, four of whom are now said to be dead. Hamas released a video of one, Edan Alexander, over the weekend, indicating he was still alive.
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Follow Philip Marcelo at twitter.com/philmarcelo.