Hamas police chief who attacked Nova festival on Oct. 7 killed in strike a week ago, IDF says

A Hamas terrorist who infiltrated Kibbutz Re’im and attacked the nearby Nova festival during the October 7, 2023, onslaught was killed in an airstrike just over a week ago, the military says.

Arafat Dhiab was a member of Hamas’s Sheikh Radwan Battalion, known in the Israel Defense Forces as the al-Furqan Battalion, and also the chief of a Hamas-run police station in the Strip, according to the IDF.

Dhiab, who attacked Re’im and the Nova party on October 7, 2023, was killed on May 31, the IDF says.

Separately, the IDF says dozens of Hamas operatives were targeted in airstrikes directed by the 98th Division during operations in southern Gaza’s Khan Younis yesterday.

In northern Gaza’s Jabalia, a strike carried out by the 282nd Artillery Regiment eliminated several operatives at a command center, the IDF says, attaching a video of the incident.

Dozens more targets, including weapon depots, tunnels, and operatives, were hit in airstrikes in the past day, the military adds.

צה"ל ושב"כ תקפו וחיסלו ב-31 במאי 2025 את המחבל ערפאת דיאב מארגון הטרור חמאס, שפשט לקיבוץ רעים ולמסיבת הנובה בטבח הרצחני ב-7 באוקטובר. דיאב שימש כמחבל בגדוד אלפרקאן בארגון הטרור חמאס, ובמקביל פיקד על תחנת משטרה של הארגון וקידם מתווי טרור נגד אזרחי מדינת ישראל.

כוחות צה״ל בפיקוד… pic.twitter.com/95GeGG2nZP

— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) June 8, 2025