IDF says Hamas Northern Brigade chief killed this week held 15 hostages during war

The IDF announced Friday that the commander of Hamas’s Northern Gaza Brigade, who it killed in a Gaza City earlier this week, had overseen the holding of at least 15 Israeli hostages during the war.

The IDF said in a statement that “following extensive intelligence research,” it could reveal that Izz al-Din al-Bik, who was killed on Tuesday, “commanded the captivity of Israeli hostages during the war.”

The hostages under Bik’s responsibility included Mia Schem, Hisham al-Sayed, Amit Buskila, Uriel Baruch, Cpl. Nik Beizer, Sgt. Ron Sherman, Elia Toledano, Shani Louk, Michel Nisenbaum, Staff Sgt. Tamir Nimrodi, Yitzhak Gelerenter, Eitan Levy, Hanan Yablonka, Ron Benjamin and Orion Hernandez.

Bik had commanded Hamas’s Northern Gaza Brigade since his predecessor, Ahmed Ghandour, was killed by Israel on November 10, 2023, according to the military and Hamas.

Before taking over the brigade, Bik held several other senior positions, including chief of intelligence in the Northern Gaza Brigade and commander of the Western Jabalia Battalion.

“In these roles, he advanced and financed numerous attacks against Israeli civilians and was among the founders of Hamas’s Nukhba forces in northern Gaza,” the military said.

According to the IDF, Bik also “commanded and participated in the infiltration into Israeli territory” during Hamas’s October 7, 2023, onslaught.

Gaza’s Hamas-run civil defense agency said that Israeli strikes and gunfire had killed at least seven people in the Strip on Tuesday, including Bik. It said the Hamas commander was killed alongside another man in a strike west of Gaza City.

Separately, the IDF said Friday that Tamer Hamaida, who served as a sniper in Hamas’s military wing, was killed in a strike on Khan Younis.

Throughout the war, Hamaida had plotted various attacks, including sniper attacks against IDF troops and Israeli civilians, the military said.

The official Palestinian news agency WAFA reported that the strike targeted a tent sheltering displaced Palestinians at the Al-Iqlimi junction in Al-Mawasi, west of Khan Younis.

According to WAFA, 42-year-old Hamaida was killed, and several other people were wounded and taken to a hospital for medical treatment.

Over 74,040 people have been killed in Gaza since Hamas’s October 7 attacks triggered a multi-front war, including more than 1,330 since an October 2025 ceasefire, according to the Hamas-run health ministry in the enclave. However, the toll does not differentiate between combatants and civilians.

Hamas accuses Israel of violating the ceasefire and undermining efforts to implement a broader plan by US President Donald Trump to end the Gaza conflict, which also includes Israeli withdrawals and Hamas disarmament.

After months of negotiations, the terror group accepted a US plan for it to disarm, but the proposal has stalled amid opposition from Israel, which argues that it is insufficient.

Officials from the Trump-led Board of Peace — which is tasked with overseeing the postwar management of Gaza — are hoping a less politically charged environment will allow for the plan’s advancement after the October 27 Knesset election.