From the Liveblog of
Tuesday, October 20, 2026
IDF says airstrike kills final Hamas member who took part in kidnapping Shani Louk
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleEmanuel (Mannie) Fabian is The Times of Israel's military correspondent
A Hamas terrorist who took part in abducting the body of Israeli hostage Shani Louk during the October 7 onslaught was killed in an airstrike in the northern Gaza Strip yesterday, the military and Shin Bet announce.
The killing of Tamer Muhammad Ibrahim al-Sabbagh in northern Gaza’s Jabalia on Monday marks the final member of the Hamas cell that was seen abducting Louk on October 7, 2023, with three others killed earlier in the war and one captured by Israeli forces.
Infamous photos taken by AP freelance photographer Ali Mahmud showed a half-naked woman, later identified as Louk, lying unconscious face-down in the back of a pickup truck in Gaza filled with armed men.
The army says al-Sabbagh, seen in the photo, invaded Israeli territory on October 7 and took part in the abduction of Louk, 22, who was attending the Supernova music festival.
During the war and recently, al-Sabbagh had carried out advanced attacks on Israeli troops and civilians and acted to restore Hamas’s capabilities, “in systematic violation of the ceasefire,” the joint statement says, adding that he was killed to “remove the threat he posed.”
Louk’s body was recovered by IDF troops and returned to Israel in May 2024.
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