Hundreds gathered Friday morning at the Kiryat Shaul Military Cemetery to honor Capt. Omer Neutra, the IDF officer whose body was returned from Hamas captivity earlier this week.
President Isaac Herzog and his wife Michal, former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, former IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi, Immigration and Absorption Minister Ofir Sofer, senior American military officials, and IDF generals were among those in attendance.
Neutra’s family and friends arrived wearing black shirts printed with his image and the words “Our hero.” The ceremony opened with the blowing of a shofar, and his parents, Ronen and Orna, and his brother Daniel recited the Kaddish together.
Ronen Neutra eulogized his son, saying, “After more than two years, your impossible journey has come to an end — 758 days of hope, pain, prayer, and fear, and today you are finally home, in the land you chose to defend. You were only 21, but in moments like those, age doesn’t matter — only the soul. You were a hero not because you died in war, but because of how you lived.”
Orna Neutra read the names of six fallen hostages whose bodies remain in Gaza and described her son as “perfect and whole,” saying, “As you were taken, so you were returned to us. Our angel, you always said, ‘My parents will do anything for me’ — and you were right.”
His brother Daniel spoke through tears: “It’s been two and a half years since we were last together — the longest we’ve ever been apart. Now you’re so close and yet so far. Thank you, Omer. You can rest now. You’re home.”
President Herzog opened the eulogies, saying, “I stand here in the deep gratitude of an entire nation. You chose us — when you came alone, when you enlisted, when you fought. You are part of our lives because you defended us with all you had.” He thanked U.S. President Donald Trump, whose mediation, he said, “led to the hostage release deal,” and called for the return of all remaining captives.
U.S. Central Command chief Adm. Brad Cooper also attended, saying, “Omer paid the ultimate price. He is a son of two nations — the United States and Israel — and will be remembered as a hero of both.”
Maj. Gen. Rafi Milo, head of the IDF Northern Command, praised Neutra’s leadership: “Under Omer’s command, his tank crew arrived within minutes at the breach in the border fence to defend the civilians. Their courage saved lives.”
Friends and relatives remembered Neutra as kind, humorous, and deeply devoted. “You lived with commitment and generosity,” said his aunt, Gania Tsahar. “Now from above, keep crying out before God: ‘Enough of Israel’s suffering.’”
Neutra, 22, was born in Long Island, New York, and came to Israel for a pre-army gap year before enlisting as a lone soldier. He commanded a tank in the 77th Battalion of the 7th Armored Brigade, stationed near the “White House” outpost between Kibbutz Nir Oz and Kibbutz Nirim when Hamas launched its Oct. 7, 2023, attack.
Neutra and his crew — Staff Sgt. Oz Daniel, Sgt. Shaked Dahan, and Sgt. Nimrod Cohen — fought against waves of Hamas gunmen before being overpowered. The militants’ video of the burning tank became one of the most recognizable images of the attack.
In December 2024, the IDF announced that Neutra had been killed on Oct. 7 and that his body was being held in Gaza. His remains were returned this week alongside Daniel’s, who was buried Thursday in Kfar Saba. Dahan’s body was recovered in August 2024, and Cohen was freed in an earlier hostage release.
With Neutra’s burial, the circle of Tank No. 3 has finally closed.
First published: 10:35, 11.07.25