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US-Israeli Officer Believed to Be Alive in Gaza Was Killed on Oct. 7, IDF Says
The Israeli military revealed on Dec. 2, 2024, that Cpt. Omer Maxim Neutra, 21, who was born in New York, was killed during Hamas’s deadly massacre on Oct. 7, 2023. Photo: Screenshot
JNS.org — An Israeli soldier previously believed to be among the living hostages being held in Gaza by Hamas was killed on Oct. 7, 2023, and his body taken by the terrorists, the Israel Defense Forces revealed on Monday.
Cpt. Omer Maxim Neutra, 21, was a tank platoon commander in the 77th Battalion of the 7th Brigade. His death was pronounced by the Military Rabbinate based on new intelligence information, and his family was notified.
Neutra was born in New York a month after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, his mother told an American audience at a Republican Party convention in Wisconsin in July, according to Channel 12 News.
“I passed through [the World Trade Center] on my way home on that terrible day, and here we are after more than 23 years and Omer once again is a victim of a violent terrorist attack,” she was quoted as saying.
Neutra immigrated to Israel to join the military and settled in Kibbutz Afikim south of the Sea of Galilee.
During Hamas’s deadly Oct. 7 attack, Neutra was deployed near Kibbutz Nir Oz on the Gaza border, according to Hebrew media reports.
There were three other soldiers in the tank with him when the attack began: gunner Nimrod Cohen, 20, loader Oz Daniel, 19, and driver Shaked Dahan, 19.
Around 6:30 am, they received alerts of intrusions through the border fence. A second tank nearby headed north, while Neutra’s tank moved south. After 20 minutes, the commander of the other tank reported being hit. Neutra turned around, but his tank never made it.
“They must have been hit hard by an RPG [anti-tank missile],” Amir Daniel, Oz’s father, told Channel 12 News.
The tank caught fire, he continued, “so they had to get out or die of suffocation inside the tank. They made the decision to open the hatches and go out.”
The IDF had previously confirmed the deaths of Dahan, whose body was taken but retrieved by the IDF in September, and Oz, whose body is being held in Gaza. Cohen is still being held hostage in the Palestinian enclave. He was recognized by his family members in a kidnapping footage released by Hamas, according to Channel 12.
“Omer was a man of values, blessed with talents and a Zionist in every inch of his limbs,” said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday, extending his condolences to Neutra’s family.
“He made aliyah to Israel to enlist in the IDF, chose a fighter’s track, and was selected to command and lead. This is what he did at the outbreak of the war on the seventh of October, 2023, when he fought ferociously at the head of his soldiers to defend the Gaza Envelope communities, until he fell,” the premier added.
“We will not rest or be silent until we return him home to be buried in Israel, and we will continue to act resolutely and tirelessly until we return all of our hostages — alive and deceased. May his memory be blessed.”
Israeli President Isaac Herzog said on Monday, “Our hearts are with the Neutra family this morning, who, after more than a year of a determined, traumatic, and worldwide struggle, received the devastating news confirming the death of their beloved son, Captain Omer Maxim Neutra, who fell on Oct. 7, and his body abducted by terrorists into Gaza.”
“Over the past year, we had the privilege of meeting his parents, Ronen and Orna, and his brother Daniel — a strong family with extraordinary resilience, who have dedicated their lives since Oct. 7 to doing everything in their power to bring Omer home.”
“I extend my warmest embrace to them and to all the families of the hostages enduring this horrific ordeal.”
The post US-Israeli Officer Believed to Be Alive in Gaza Was Killed on Oct. 7, IDF Says first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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‘With or Without Russia’s Help’: Iran Pledges to Block South Caucasus Route Opened Up By Peace Deal
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a cabinet meeting at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., July 8, 2025. Photo: Kevin Lamarque via Reuters Connect.
i24 News – Iran will block the establishment of a US-backed transit corridor in the South Caucasus region with or without Moscow’s help, a senior adviser to Iran’s supreme leader was quoted as saying on Saturday by the Iran International website, one day after the historic peace agreement between Azerbaijan and Armenia.
“Mr. Trump thinks the Caucasus is a piece of real estate he can lease for 99 years,” Ali Akbar Velayati said of the so-called Zangezur corridor, the establishment of which is stipulated in the peace deal unveiled on Friday by US President Donald Trump. The White House said the transit route would facilitate greater exports of energy and other resources.
“This passage will not become a gateway for Trump’s mercenaries — it will become their graveyard,” the Khamenei advisor added.
Baku and Yerevan have been at loggerheads since the late 1980s when Nagorno-Karabakh, a mountainous Azerbaijani region mostly populated by ethnic Armenians, broke away from Azerbaijan with support from Armenia. Azerbaijan took back full control of the region in 2023, prompting or forcing almost all of the territory’s 100,000 ethnic Armenians to flee to Armenia.
Yet that painful history was put to the side on Friday at the White House, as Trump oversaw a signing ceremony, flanked by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.
The peace deal with Azerbaijan—a pro-Western ally of Israel—is expected to pull Armenia out of the Russian and Iranian sphere of influence and could transform the South Caucasus, an energy-producing region neighboring Russia, Europe, Turkey and Iran.
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UK Police Arrest 150 at Protest for Banned Palestine Action Group
People holding signs sit during a rally organised by Defend Our Juries, challenging the British government’s proscription of “Palestine Action” under anti-terrorism laws, in Parliament Square, in London, Britain, August 9, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Jaimi Joy
London’s Metropolitan Police said on Saturday it had arrested 150 people at a protest against Britain’s decision to ban the group Palestine Action, adding it was making further arrests.
Officers made arrests after crowds, waving placards expressing support for the group, gathered in Parliament Square, the force said on X.
Protesters, some wearing black and white Palestinian scarves, chanted “shame on you” and “hands off Gaza,” and held signs such as “I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action,” video taken by Reuters at the scene showed.
In July, British lawmakers banned Palestine Action under anti-terrorism legislation after some of its members broke into a Royal Air Force base and damaged planes in protest against Britain’s support for Israel.
The ban makes it a crime to be a member of the group, carrying a maximum sentence of 14 years in prison.
The co-founder of Palestine Action, Huda Ammori, last week won a bid to bring a legal challenge against the ban.
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‘No Leniency’: Iran Announces Arrest of 20 ‘Zionist Agents’
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi addresses a special session of the Human Rights Council at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, June 20, 2025. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse
i24 News – Iranian authorities have in recent months arrested 20 people charged with being “Israeli Mossad operatives,” the judiciary said, adding that the Islamic regime will mete out the harshest punishments.
“The judiciary will show no leniency toward spies and agents of the Zionist regime, and with firm rulings, will make an example of them all,” spokesperson Asghar Jahangiri told Iranian media. However, it is understood that an unspecified number of detainees were released, apparently after the charges against them could not be substantiated.
The Islamic Republic was left reeling by a devastating 12-day war with Israel earlier in the summer that left a significant proportion of its military arsenal in ruins and dealt a serious setback to its uranium enrichment program. The fallout included an uptick in executions of Iranians convicted of spying for Israel, with at least eight death sentences carried out in recent months. Hit with international sanctions, the country is in dire economic straights, with frequent energy outages and skyrocketing unemployment.
In recent weeks Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi affirmed that Tehran cannot give up on its nuclear enrichment program even as it was severely damaged during the war.
“It is stopped because, yes, damages are serious and severe. But obviously we cannot give up of enrichment because it is an achievement of our own scientists. And now, more than that, it is a question of national pride,” the official told Fox News.