The president also met the family of Omer Neutra, whose body is still in Gaza
President Donald Trump on Tuesday met with freed Hamas hostage Edan Alexander and the family of Omer Neutra, who was killed during Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attack.
The meeting in the Oval Office comes on the second anniversary of the Oct. 7 attack, when Hamas terrorists killed more than 1,200 Israelis and kidnapped at least 251 people. Neutra’s body is still in Gaza, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt noted in her X post announcing the meeting.
Trump in the meeting said he believes that a peace deal could be reached within days, according to journalist Neria Kraus. The president, who has played a key role in securing hostage releases, last week proposed a plan that Israeli, Hamas, and U.S. negotiators are finalizing. The deal would end the war in Gaza, free the remaining hostages, and set the stage for an international coalition to assume control of Gaza.
“President Trump is committed to bringing every hostage home,” the White House wrote in its X post announcing the meeting. Israeli intelligence estimates that at least 20 hostages are still alive in Gaza, along with the bodies of around 25 others killed in captivity.
Alexander is a dual U.S.-Israeli citizen who was held hostage by Hamas for 19 months and released in May. The 21-year-old grew up in New Jersey and moved to Israel after graduating high school. While serving in the IDF, he was taken hostage during Hamas’s Oct. 7 terrorist attack.
Neutra, also a dual U.S.-Israeli citizen, was killed during Hamas’s surprise attack. He grew up on Long Island and was serving in the Israeli military as a tank commander at the time of the attack.
Trump, who spoke with Alexander by phone following his release, first hosted the former IDF soldier in the Oval Office this July. “I came to thank the person responsible for saving my life,” Alexander said at the time. “It was deeply moving to be in the White House, the same place where my parents had fought for my release so many times, but this time together with them.”
Alexander has revealed that he plans to rejoin the IDF. “Next month, God willing, I will return to Israel,” Alexander said at a Friends of the IDF event in September. “I will once again put on the IDF uniform, and I will proudly serve alongside my brothers.”
