Ronen and Orna Neutra, parents of hostage Omer Neutra, spoke with Arutz Sheva - Israel National News as it accompanied Prime Minister Netanyahu on his trip to Washington.
"This a critical week. We are entering stage two phase two of the deal to bring all the hostages back. We were told after 422 days that our son was killed in captivity. He deserves to have a proper burial in the land of Israel and we are here to make sure that the leaders of both United States and Israel are seeing the hostage deal as the first priority."
The couple clarified their priorities: "There are 79 live hostages that have been there for such a long time, and they need to come back. Every day that they're there their life is at risk. We have to take care of Israel's security issues, but first, the hostages must come home. Everyone working for that is saving lives."
Ronen and Orna shared the moments when they were told Omer was killed during the October 7th massacre. "For 422 days, we believed that Omer was alive, and our activity was geared towards reuniting with him alive. We were devastated to learn that he was killed on October 7th. Omer deserves to be brought to a proper burial - under no circumstance can we accept the fact that he will remain in the hands of Hamas."
They noted the moral responsibility of the government for Omer: "He volunteered for the Israeli army, he protected the villages on the border with Gaza, and the Israeli government has has an obligation to bring him back and to give him the respect that he deserves as a soldier in the state of Israel."