IDF says it killed Hamas terrorist who led massacre at Re’im shelter – an UNRWA worker
16 were murdered at concrete shelter and 4 kidnapped, including Hersh Goldberg-Polin; Hamas claims hundreds killed in IDF’s new north Gaza offensive, as army says over 200 arrested
An Israeli airstrike in the Gaza Strip Wednesday killed a Hamas Nukhba Force commander who led the massacre and kidnapping of Israelis from a roadside bomb shelter near Kibbutz Re’im on October 7, the army and Shin Bet announced Thursday.
According to the military, Muhammad Abu Attawi, who served as a Nukbha commander in Hamas’s Bureij Battalion, was also employed by the UN Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA since July 2022.
During the October 7 onslaught, Attawi commanded the attack on a bomb shelter near Re’im where partygoers from the Nova festival had fled to.
The shelter was one of several that became infamous in the aftermath of the attack, having become deathtraps for many Israelis who huddled there amid the onslaught.
Nearly 30 were in the Re’im shelter when Hamas terrorists stormed it, hurling in grenades and firing on those inside. (Warning: Graphic video below.)
New footage from October 7 shows how Hamas terrorists attacked a packed public bomb shelter near the Nova festival near Re'im, hurling grenades at the partygoers who were sheltering from the rocket attacks. Inside, off duty soldier Staff Sgt. Aner Elyakim Shapiro managed to toss… pic.twitter.com/pmlcVQnvg8
— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) November 14, 2023
Sixteen were murdered, four were kidnapped — including Hersh Goldberg-Polin, who was executed many months later in Gaza — and seven survived.
Attawi was also involved in attacks on troops during the war in Gaza, the IDF said.
The military said COGAT representatives had “demanded from senior officials in the international community and the UN clarifications and an urgent inquiry into the participation of UNRWA employees in the October 7 massacre and terrorist activity against Israel.”
Israel has said multiple UNRWA employees were terrorists who took part in the attacks, and has alleged that many hundreds have ties to terror groups.
North Gaza offensive
Also Thursday, the Israeli military said it had arrested more than 200 suspected terrorists as it pushed ahead with its renewed offensive in the northern Gaza Strip, which the Hamas-run civil defense agency said it had killed more than 770 people.
With Israel under pressure to end the fighting against Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon, the United States said negotiators will meet in the coming days for renewed talks on a possible hostage release and ceasefire deal. Israel confirmed that the Mossad director will travel to Qatar on Sunday for talks.
After nearly a year of war in Gaza sparked by Hamas’s October 7, 2023 terror onslaught, Israel expanded its focus to Hezbollah last month, after a year of cross-border attacks that the Iran-backed terror group said were in support of Hamas.
It has meanwhile kept up the pressure on Hamas, and launched a new operation in the northern Gaza Strip earlier this month, which it said was aimed at preventing terror operatives from regrouping in the war-torn territory.
Amid the operation, the IDF has ordered the evacuation of Jabaliya and surrounding towns in northern Gaza, where several hundred thousand Palestinians are believed to still reside, despite repeated urgings by Israel to leave since the start of the war.
While tens of thousands have fled, many more have remained either because they are unwilling or unable to evacuate, and there have been reports that Hamas has been trying to prevent civilians from evacuating.
Some Palestinians have claimed that the IDF has been targeting those trying to flee — a charge the army denies.
It has repeatedly told people to evacuate, and to do so they must pass through army-manned checkpoints.
Images posted online in recent days and verified by AFP showed crowds of Palestinians waiting to cross such checkpoints, while several Palestinians reported mistreatment or detention during the process.
A harrowing video shows a long line of Palestinians evacuating northern #Gaza, moving south as instructed by Israeli forces. The scene captures the devastation, displacement, and overwhelming sense of helplessness that continues to unfold. pic.twitter.com/ZOT1Xr5u5L
— Josep Goded (@josepgoded) October 24, 2024
The spokesman for Gaza’s Hamas-run civil defense agency, Mahmud Bassal, said Thursday that since the start of the latest IDF operation in northern Gaza, more than 770 people had been killed and that the toll could still rise as there were still people buried under rubble.
The figure could not be independently verified and did not differentiate between fighters and civilians.
He also referred to an IDF strike on a school-turned-shelter in the central Gaza Strip Thursday, saying that it killed 17 people and wounded dozens more.
The IDF said that the airstrike had targeted a group of Hamas operatives using the Martyrs School in Nuseirat to plan and carry out attacks. It said that it took steps to mitigate civilian harm in the strike and accused Hamas of “systematically” using civilian sites for terror.
In recent months, the IDF has carried out dozens of airstrikes on what it says are Hamas sites embedded within locations used as shelters for civilians. It says it regularly takes steps to limit the harm by such strikes.
The civil defense agency also said on Thursday it can no longer provide first responder services in the north, accusing Israeli forces of threatening to “bomb and kill” its crews.
The Israeli military says the goal of its assault is to destroy the operational capabilities that Hamas is trying to rebuild in the north.
Blinken in Qatar
The war in Gaza began with the brutal massacre carried out by Hamas in southern Israel on October 7. Israel vowed to destroy Hamas’s military and governing capabilities and to ensure that Gaza’s terror groups no longer posed a threat.
The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry says more than 42,000 people in the Strip have been killed or are presumed dead in the fighting so far. The toll cannot be verified and does not differentiate between civilians and fighters. Israel says it has killed some 17,000 combatants in battle as of August and another 1,000 terrorists inside Israel on October 7.
The reported high civilian tolls from the fighting have sparked repeated calls for a halt to the fighting in both Gaza and Lebanon, with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken returning to the region this week for the 11th time since the start of the Gaza war.
Visiting key mediator Qatar on Thursday, Blinken said he expected negotiators would meet in the coming days on a Gaza hostage and ceasefire deal. Iseal confirmed Mossad chief David Barnea will travel to Doha on Sunday to try to restart discussions.
Negotiations have been largely stalled for over two months. The Biden administration has argued that last week’s killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar by Israel may provide an opening for revived talks.
Blinken’s visit comes ahead of the US election on November 5, and days after Israel killed Sinwar, who was seen as a key obstacle to a deal.
Prior to the Qatar stop, Blinken had been in Israel and Saudi Arabia, where he was seeking to make headway on a normalization deal between the two countries.
Blinken said Israel had “achieved most of its strategic objectives” in Gaza and should now aim for lasting success.
Blinken acknowledged “progress” on aid for Gaza but said more needed to be done, as he pledged another $135 million in assistance to the Palestinians.
Following two weeks at the start of the month in which no humanitarian aid entered northern Gaza, the Biden administration warned Israel on October 13 that it had 30 days to take significant steps to address the humanitarian crisis or risk the continued supply of some offensive weapons.
Since then, the IDF said on Tuesday that more than 230 aid trucks entered northern Gaza, bringing food, water, medical supplies and shelter equipment to the beleaguered strip.
Jacob Magid contributed to this report.
