IDF says Hamas commander who took tank soldiers captive on Oct. 7 killed in Gaza airstrike

The military says Jihad Samih Mahmoud abducted Israeli-American Omer Neutra, along with Shaked Dahan, Nimrod Cohen and Oz Daniel

By Emanuel Fabian,

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Agencies and ToI Staff 16 September 2026, 8:30 pm

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A Hamas commander who invaded Israel during the October 7, 2023, attack and took part in abducting four tank soldiers was killed in a strike in the southern Gaza Strip last week, the military announced on Wednesday.

The strike on Thursday in Khan Younis killed Jihad Samih Mahmoud Ismail, identified by the IDF as a squad commander in Hamas’s elite Nukhba Force.

On October 7, 2023, Ismail invaded Israel and was involved in a battle with a tank crew deployed to the border, near the community of Nirim, according to the military.

The crew included Israeli-American commander Cpt. Omer Maxim Neutra, 21; driver Sgt. Shaked Dahan, 19; gunner Sgt. Nimrod Cohen, 19; and loader Sgt. Oz Daniel, 19. All but Cohen were killed in the battle.

The IDF said Ismail took part in taking Cohen captive, and in seizing the bodies of Neutra and Daniel and bringing them into Gaza. Dahan’s body was taken to Gaza separately. Cohen was freed from Hamas captivity in October 2025, one of the last 20 living hostages to be released.

Dahan’s body was recovered in a military operation in August 2024, and the bodies of Neutra and Daniel were returned by Hamas in November 2025.

Neutra’s parents Ronen and Orna live in the United States and were among the most visible advocates there for the captives’ release, speaking at forums including the 2024 Republican National Convention.

L-R: Daniel Neutra, the brother of slain hostage soldier Cpt. Omer Neutra, and his parents, Ronen and Orna Neutra recite Kaddish, the Jewish mourners’ prayer, at his funeral, on November 7, 2025. (Erik Marmor/Flash90)

In addition to his role in the October 7 assault, the IDF said Ismail was involved in carrying out attacks on Israeli troops in the Strip during the ensuing two-year war.

Recently, Ismail was involved in advancing attacks against troops and civilians, “in systematic violation of the ceasefire,” and he was “eliminated to remove the threat he posed,” the IDF added.

????ELIMINATED: Jihad Samih Mahmoud Ismail, a Hamas Nukhba squad commander who infiltrated Israel during the October 7 Massacre.

He took part in the encounter with the Armored Corps soldiers from Tank No. 3, as well as in the abduction of Captain Omer Neutra, Staff Sergeant Oz… pic.twitter.com/heLnJ4UiAZ

— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) September 16, 2026

While the IDF has largely tried to portray strikes as targeting ceasefire violations, it has also confirmed an ongoing campaign to target and killed every single terrorist involved in the October 7 attack, and said the effort would not be influenced by the ceasefire,

Also on Wednesday, the IDF announced that three other Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad operatives had been killed in recent strikes in Gaza.

One of the strikes on Wednesday killed Saeed Asaad Saeed Akrim, identified by the IDF as a commander in Hamas’s Daraj-Tuffah Battalion.

Akrim had been involved in placing explosive devices and advancing other attacks on Israeli troops, the IDF says.

The military said two separate strikes on Tuesday in northern Gaza killed Nimer Yasser Nimer Arshi, a rocket-launching Islamic Jihad operative in the Daraj-Tuffah area, and Ahmad Baza’at Saleh Shaer, a member of Hamas’s Shejaiya Battalion who planted explosive devices.

The three had been advancing attacks “while systematically violating the ceasefire,” and were killed to “remove the threat,” the army added.

Katz suggests Israel could return to all-out war in Gaza

Separately on Wednesday, Defense Minister Israel Katz asserted that it was only a matter of time before Israel resumes its full-scale war in Gaza and moves to encourage the emigration of Palestinians from Gaza.

The IDF, he said, “is prepared, once given the directive to eliminate Hamas, to finish the job so that we can also implement the migration plan.”

The Likud minister made the remarks while responding to criticism from another right-wing candidate in next month’s election, Ofer Winter, who leads the People of Israel party, ahead of the October 27 vote. Winter is a vocal advocate of encouraging “voluntary migration” from the war-torn territory.

Katz noted that 70 percent of Gaza has already been emptied of its population by the war there, and the IDF’s control of around 60 percent of the enclave, almost a year after the October 2025 ceasefire. Almost all of Gaza’s population remains in the Strip, largely displaced and crowed into the area still controlled by Hamas.

According to Katz, that ceasefire — backed by US President Donald Trump — had “supreme value for all Israelis” by leading to the return of remaining hostages and ensuring “a commitment by the United States” to disarming Hamas. But, referring to disarmament, he added, “We all understand that this is not going to happen.”

The defense minister said earlier this month that Israel was ready to facilitate emigration from Gaza “by any means,” once it receives permission from the US to do so. He, like other senior Israeli officials, has insisted that any migration plan would be voluntary. He has also claimed that most Palestinians want to leave, though the basis of that assertion was unclear. Some 2.3 Palestinians live in Gaza.

This handout photograph released by the Egyptian Presidency on September 16, 2026, shows Egypt’s President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi (R) receiving Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas during a meeting in Cairo. (Egyptian Presidency/AFP)

US Ambassador Mike Huckabee has previously denied any plan to “displace people out of Gaza against their will,” and the international community has condemned any attempt to implement such a plan.

Voluntary migration plans are largely seen as an Israeli fantasy with no countries willing to accepts a large number of Palestinian refugees.

Sissi stresses ‘firm stance’ against displacing Palestinians

Following Katz’s remarks on Wednesday, Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi rejected the displacement of any Palestinians, during a visit by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in Cairo.

Sissi “reiterated Egypt’s firm stance against the displacement of the Palestinian people or any attempt to annihilate the Palestinian cause.”

Abbas praised Egypt’s “steadfast positions,” Palestinian news agency WAFA reported.

Egypt, which shares a land border with Gaza, has long rejected any possibility of displacing Palestinians internationally and refuses to accept refugees from the Strip.

Nearly all of Gaza’s population has been internally displaced and most of the territory lies in rubble after years of war sparked by the October 7 attack. Much of Gaza’s population lives in squalid and crowded refugee camps.

While the October 2025 US-backed ceasefire halted major fighting in the shattered territory, it hasn’t ended strikes by the IDF, which it says aim to thwart attacks by Hamas and other Gaza terrorists. Gaza remains bisected into Israeli- and Hamas-controlled areas.