Washington D.C. – ABC News, Oct. 21, 2025
Omer Neutra from New York state is one of two deceased American Israeli hostages whose bodies have still not been returned by Hamas.
“Omer does not deserve to end up under the rubble in Gaza. He needs to be brought home, and he needs to be buried with dignity,” Omer’s mom, Orna, told ABC News during an interview on Monday near to Tel Aviv.
Orna described the past week, in which Hamas returned the remaining 20 living hostages and began returning the remains of 28 others, as “insane.” Every night she and her husband and Omer’s dad, Ronen, have been given the news that a small number of deceased hostages will be returned. Only hours later, normally in the middle of the night, the couple have gotten a call to say it’s not their son.
Over the course of the past week Hamas has returned 13 bodies of deceased hostages, according to the Israeli military. Another 15 are still unaccounted for, including that of Omer and Itay Chen, another American Israeli. Another returned set of remains didn’t match any of those who were presumed to have been taken hostage, Israel said last week.
On Tuesday, Hamas said two more bodies had been found. They will be handed over to Israeli authorities, according to Hamas.
Hamas has said in statements that it’s searching for the remains of additional hostages but added that it’s a difficult task because the bodies are buried under mountains of rubble . The militant group also sought to blame Israel for the delay, saying tools and personnel that could help find the bodies were being held up.
