Hoops and birthday hopes for Hamas hostage, Plainview native Omer Neutra

On the eve of his 23rd birthday, a community basketball game on Sunday afternoon in Manhattan honored Omer Neutra, a Plainview native and Israeli tank commander held hostage since last October's attack by Hamas on Israel.

Family members of Neutra, captain of his high school basketball team in Williston Park, and dozens of others packed into Ramaz Middle School to renew the call to bring him home.

Ahead of Neutra’s second birthday in captivity on Monday, some of his high school teammates, young children and others took part in pickup games in the gym. Many of the attendees wore blue-and-white shirts with a photograph of a smiling Neutra, and a message: "Free Omer."

"We are here ... to make sure that people don’t forget that Omer is there," said his father, Ronen Neutra. "He’s alive and he’s waiting to be rescued."

Hamas launched an attack across Israel's border with the Gaza Strip on Oct. 7, 2023, killing more than 1,200 people and taking about 250 hostages.  About 100 hostages are still being held by Hamas,   though about a third are believed to be dead, according to Israeli officials. Four of the remaining hostages, including Neutra, are Americans, according to the U.S. Department of State.

The rest were either released by Hamas, were killed and had their bodies returned to Israel, or were rescued by Israeli troops.

Israel’s counterattack has killed more than 42,000 people in Gaza, according to officials from the Hamas-run Health Ministry there.

Neutra, as a member of the Israeli military, was stationed near the Gaza border.

After graduating from Schechter School of Long Island in 2019, Neutra decided to take a gap year and move to Israel, where his connections to his roots deepened. As a descendant of Holocaust survivors on both his mother's and father's sides, he believed he couldn’t go back to a comfortable life, his family said.

"It’s been 374 days since we spoke to Omer, since he was taken hostage by Hamas," Ronen Neutra said. "Those days have been filled with agony — an agony no parent should have to go through."

Sunday’s event, which was hosted by several organizations, including the Hostages and Missing Families Forum and Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun in Manhattan — also helped shade in the details of Omer Neutra's life.

And key to knowing Neutra is his love of basketball, family and friends said. He is a Knicks fan, whether the team is winning or losing.

He wore the number 24 to model the work ethic of the late Los Angeles Lakers  Hall of Famer Kobe Bryant, who wore the same number for a good part of his career.

Neutra's Schechter School teammate Ari Kantorowitz, 22, of Jericho, attended Sunday's event and played to honor his classmate. Kantorowitz said he and Neutra played on possibly the "world’s worst varsity basketball team," but the captain was the guiding light.

"He was our big man," Kantorowitz said of Neutra. "He was our heart. He was the guy that was fighting for all of us that maybe weren’t as tough."

It is that strength that his mother, Orna Neutra, said Sunday, she hopes he hasn't lost. And on her son's soon-to-be year around the sun, she said a special prayer.

"Omer, we pray that you stay strong and survive. We pray for miracles for you."

With Bart Jones

By Tiffany Cusaac-Smith

tiffany.cusaac-smith@newsday.com@T_Cusaac

Education: Howard University 

Tiffany Cusaac-Smith came to Newsday in 2023 after being a race and history reporter at USA TODAY, where she wrote enterprise and spot articles examining how the past shapes the present. Previously, she worked as the race and justice reporter at the USA TODAY Network of New York, covering issues such as criminal justice reform, housing, environmental justice, health care and politics. At The Journal News/lohud.com in Westchester County, she covered Yonkers, the state's third-largest city. She also worked at The Associated Press in Atlanta.

Honors and Awards: Criminal justice reporting fellowship with the National Press Foundation;  New York News Publishers Association award for distinguished investigative reporting;  Contributed reporting for Best of Gannett honor; Member of Table Stakes, a program funded by the Knight-Lenfest Local News Transformation Fund and managed by the American Press Institute to transform local news.