IDF says Hamas terrorists who abducted, held hostages killed in Gaza strike

The IDF says a strike targeting a cell of Hamas gunmen on Saturday killed a terrorist involved in abducting hostages on October 7, 2023, and two others who held another hostage in captivity in the Gaza Strip.

The strike overnight into Saturday in the central Gaza Strip killed seven people, according to Hamas authorities. The IDF said it had struck an armed cell of Hamas gunmen whose members had “approached the Yellow Line” and planned to carry out an “imminent” attack on Israeli forces stationed in the area.

Following a review of intelligence, the IDF says it can confirm that among those killed in the strike was Ali Sami Muhammad Shakra, a platoon commander in Hamas’s elite Nukhba Force.

The IDF says Shakra invaded Israel during the Hamas October 7 onslaught and took part in the abduction of hostages Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Alon Ohel, Eliya Cohen, and Or Levy from a roadside bomb shelter near Re’im.

Also killed in the strike were Muhammad Mabhouh, a company commander in Hamas’s Bureij Battalion, and Muhammad Fuad Gasser Sayid, a Hamas platoon commander.

The military says the pair took part in holding hostage Avinatan Or in Hamas captivity during the war. The IDF publishes a photo showing Sayid with Or in a Hamas tunnel.

Other members of Hamas’s Nukhba Force were killed in the strike, “including terrorists who worked to launch rockets toward Israeli territory,” the army adds.