IDF says it killed terrorist who led Bibas abduction, was likely involved in their murders

The Israel Defense Forces and Shin Bet on Friday said a terror operative who oversaw the kidnapping and likely was also involved in the murder of Shiri Bibas and her two young sons, Ariel and Kfir, was killed in an airstrike in Gaza.

The military and security agency also announced the killings of a Hamas propagandist involved in the production of hostage videos and an official central to funneling money to the terror group’s armed wing.

The IDF and Shin Bet on Friday said Muhammad Hassan Muhammad Awad, a senior member of the Mujahideen Brigades, a relatively small terror group in the Strip, had been targeted and killed in an airstrike in northern Gaza earlier that day.

In a joint statement, the IDF and Shin Bet said that Awad had invaded Kibbutz Nir Oz during the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, onslaught and led the abduction of Shiri, Ariel and Kfir Bibas.

The IDF said Awad was “likely involved in their murder” during the early weeks of the war.

According to assessments by Israeli officials issued after her body had been identified, Shiri Bibas was “brutally” murdered by her captors in November 2023, alongside her sons, who were killed with “bare hands.” The assessments after a forensic investigation were contrary to Hamas’s claims that the three were killed in an Israeli airstrike.

Shiri, Ariel and Kfir Bibas were kidnapped from Kibbutz Nir Oz on October 7, 2023, when thousands of terrorists stormed southern Israel to kill some 1,200 people and take 251 hostages, sparking the war in Gaza. Husband and father Yarden Bibas was taken captive separately from his wife and children.

The bodies of Shiri, Ariel and Kfir Bibas were returned in February as part of the ceasefire and hostage deal between Israel and Hamas. Yarden Bibas was released alive.

The IDF and Shin Bet said Awad was also responsible for the abduction of US-Israeli nationals Gadi Haggai and Judih Weinstein, who were both killed amid the onslaught in Nir Oz, along with several Thai nationals taken hostage from the kibbutz, the military said.

The terror group also confirmed Awad’s death, saying he was a senior military commander and head of its intelligence division. The IDF said he was considered close to the leadership of the Mujahideen Brigades.

“Additionally, as part of his role in the terror group, Awad was engaged in recruiting terror operatives in [the West Bank] and Israel [proper], through which they advanced and carried out attacks against Israelis,” the military said.

During the war, the IDF said the Mujahideen Brigades, which is allied with Hamas, carried out several attacks on Israeli forces in Gaza and against Israel.

Hamas propagandist and financier both killed this week

The IDF and Shin Bet also said Friday that they’d killed a Hamas operative who “served as a propaganda and psychological terror operative” in an airstrike in Gaza this week.

According to the military, Mohammed Saleh al-Bardawil “played a central role in Hamas’s propaganda apparatus, systematically spreading false information and leveraging media as a tool for psychological terror and to promote the murderous narrative of the Hamas terrorist organization.”

Bardawil also worked as a broadcaster with the Hamas-run Al-Aqsa Radio.

The IDF said that “while he was referred to as a well-known journalist in Gaza, he was an integral part of Hamas’s incitement and terror infrastructure.”

“Bardawil took an active part in producing the cynical propaganda videos distributed by the terrorist organization Hamas, in which the abducted Israelis were filmed during their captivity in Gaza,” the military added.

According to Palestinian media, Bardawil was killed on Monday in southern Gaza’s Khan Younis, alongside his wife and three children.

A Hamas operative involved in funneling money to the terror group’s military wing was also killed in a Thursday airstrike, the IDF and Shin Bet announced.

Saeed Ahmad Abed Khudari was the head of the Al Wefaq Co. currency exchange company, which had been designated as a terror organization by the Defense Ministry for its involvement in transferring money to Hamas.

“Khudari has been involved in numerous financial transfers to Hamas’s military wing over the years and especially throughout the war,” the IDF said.

The military said his involvement in funneling funds to Hamas increased following the killing of his brother, Hamed Khudari, in 2019. His brother had also served as a money man for Hamas, according to the military.

Khudari’s elimination yesterday is “a significant blow to the terror organization’s ability to rearm and reestablish itself,” the IDF added.

MSF says worker, family were killed in airstrike

Meanwhile, the Doctors Without Borders (MSF) medical charity said on Friday that an April 1 airstrike killed one of its workers, as well as his wife and 28-year-old daughter.

MSF said it was “appalled and saddened by the killing of our colleague Hussam Al Loulou by an airstrike on the morning of 1 April.”

There was no immediate comment from Israel.

“Our colleague Hussam was killed along with hundreds of others across the Gaza Strip since the resumption of attacks by Israeli forces on 18 March,” MSF said.

The 58-year-old watchman at MSF’s urgent care unit in Khan Younis was killed along with his wife and 28-year-old daughter in the “horrendous attack” southwest of Deir Al Balah in central Gaza, MSF said.

He was the eleventh MSF worker killed in Gaza since the start of the war there began 18 months ago and the second since the collapse last month of a short-lived truce.

MSF hailed Loulou for his “selflessness, humility and genuine care for those around him,” adding that he was survived by two sons.

“We strongly condemn his killing and call yet again for the immediate restoration of the ceasefire and protection of civilians,” the organization said. “This bloodshed needs to end.”

The war in Gaza started on October 7, 2023, when thousands of Hamas-led terrorists invaded southern Israel, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages amid acts of brutality and sexual assault.

The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry says more than 50,000 people in the Strip have been killed or are presumed dead in the fighting so far, though the toll cannot be verified and does not differentiate between civilians and fighters. Israel says it has killed some 20,000 combatants in battle as of January and another 1,600 terrorists inside Israel on October 7.

Israel has said it seeks to minimize civilian fatalities and stresses that Hamas uses Gaza’s civilians as human shields, fighting from civilian areas, including homes, hospitals, schools, and mosques.

Terror groups in the Gaza Strip are still holding 59 hostages, 24 of whom are believed to be alive, while 35 have been confirmed dead by the IDF.

Israel’s toll in the ground offensive against Hamas in Gaza and in military operations along the border with the Strip stands at 410.