Families of Hamas hostages demand action at RNC

MILWAUKEE – The families of American hostages held by Hamas appealed to both parties for help at the Republican National Convention on Wednesday as they commemorated the grim milestone of 285 days since the U.S. citizens were captured.

Orna and Ronen Neutra, the parents of 22-year-old Israeli-American hostage Omer Neutra, said: “Every day we count the days since he was taken away from us.”

“(Nearly) 300 days have passed without (Omer) seeing the Red Cross, without receiving the basic humanitarian needs that every human being is entitled to,” Ronen said at an event organized by Concerned Women for America on the sidelines of the RNC.

“Time is running out,” he said, urging the Biden administration to push for a hostage deal. “The deal has to be signed. These people have to come back, the living and the dead.”

Hamas still holds more than 100 hostages captured in the October 7 attacks, including eight Americans. Omer Neutra, who was born and raised in New York, moved to Israel after high school for a year abroad.

Liz Naftali, the great-aunt of four-year-old hostage Abigail Edan, who was released earlier this year, said the Biden administration has been in contact with the American hostage families “fairly regularly” and the families have met several times with President Joe Biden’s national security adviser Jake Sullivan.

She said they have also received strong support from Republican lawmakers, including Senators Lindsey Graham (R., SC) and Joni Ernst (R., Iowa), calling them “great supporters and advocates.”

However, she noted, “We haven’t done the work yet. So we know we have partners and we need to keep doing the work.”

The Neutra family is also scheduled to speak on the RNC main stage on Wednesday night.

“We expect everyone (in both parties) to work together, put aside political issues and act as one, as Americans, and ensure that the eight Americans return, along with the rest of Israel’s 120 other nationalities,” Ronen said.

Other Americans still being held captive include Edan Alexander, a 20-year-old from New Jersey; Sagui Dekel-Chen, 35; Hersh Goldberg-Polin, a 23-year-old California native; and Keith Siegel, 64, of North Carolina. The bodies of several murdered Americans are also being held by Hamas. They include Judith Weinstein, Gadi Haggai and Itay Chen.