WATCH: Neutra family holds memorial service in New York for slain hostage Omer

By Jacob Magid

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3 December 2024, 6:50 pm Edit

Jacob Magid is The Times of Israel's US bureau chief

Jon and Rachel Goldberg-Polin sit next to Ronen and Orna Neutra at a memorial ceremony for their son Omer at the Midway Jewish Center in Hicksville, New York on December 3, 2024. (NY Hostages Families Forum)

Hundreds of people have packed into the pews at the Midway Jewish Center on Long Island for a memorial service for American-Israeli hostage Omer Neutra.

Yesterday, the IDF announced that the 21-year-old tank platoon commander was killed during Hamas’s October 7, 2023, onslaught and that his body is still being held by terrorists in Gaza.

Sitting alongside Omer’s parents Orna and Ronen are the parents of Hersh Goldberg-Polin, another American-Israeli hostage whose body was retrieved by the IDF in late August after he was executed along with five other hostages.

Ronen and Orna Neutra speak at a memorial ceremony for their son Omer at the Midway Jewish Center in Hicksville, New York on December 3, 2024. (NY Hostages Families Forum)