LI mom of Hamas hostage says expanding war is taking attention away from captives: 'We're worried'

"Of course we're worried," Orna Neutra said of her 22-year-old son Omer after a Central Park rally marking his second birthday spent as a hostage of the Palestinian terror group Hamas in Gaza. "It is taking away attention from Gaza," she said of the widening Mideast conflict.

"Today we celebrate your birthday once again while you're in the terror dungeons of Hamas," Omer's father, Ronen, said at the rally. "But hope is mandatory."

Omer, who grew up in Plainview and left to join the Israel Defense Force in Israel, was captured near his military base Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas terrorists launched a sneak attack that killed 1,200 Israelis and took about 250 hostage.

"We're not grieving," Orna said of her son. "We hope that he's alive. That's what we're praying for."

Read at New York Post