Two Hamas terrorists who invaded Israel on Oct. 7 killed in recent Gaza strikes, IDF says

Two Hamas terrorists who invaded Israel during the October 7, 2023, attack were killed recently in separate strikes in the Gaza Strip, the Israel Defense Forces announced on Thursday, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Shin Bet chief David Zini both reiterated Israel’s commitment to hunting down every last Hamas operative who took part in the massacre.

The Israeli Defense Forces said that on Tuesday, Sharif Shadi Ibrahim Labad was killed in a strike in Gaza City’s Sheikh Radwan neighborhood.

It identified Labad as a member of Hamas’ elite Nukhba Force, and said he invaded Israeli territory and attacked the Erez border crossing on October 7, 2023.

Palestinian media reported that the Tuesday strike also killed 15-year-old Muhammad al-Zinati, and that seven others were wounded.

A video published by Palestinian media showed the teenager and several other Palestinians rushing to assist Labad following an initial strike, before a second Israeli missile hit the group.

The military said it was “aware of reports indicating that an uninvolved individual was harmed as a result of the strike.”

“The IDF regrets any harm to uninvolved individuals and makes every effort to minimize such harm,” the army said, adding that the incident was under further review.

#شاهد

Advertisement

لحظة استهداف الطفل محمد الزيناتي بصاروخ بصورة مباشرة اثناء محاولة اسعاف الشهيد شريف لبد بعد استهدافه في حي الشيخ رضوان شمال غزة pic.twitter.com/cCsvVVS0Q3

— Newpress | نيو برس (@NewpressPs) September 15, 2026

In the same statement, the IDF said that another strike in northern Gaza on Monday had killed Yusuf Saad a-Din Rashad Zain, whom it said was a commander in the Nukhba Force.

The IDF said both terrorists had recently been advancing attacks on troops and Israeli civilians, as well as attempting to restore Hamas capabilities, “in a systematic violation of the ceasefire.”

“The terrorists were eliminated to remove the threat that they posed,” the army added.

In a separate statement later on Thursday, the military said that another terrorist who invaded Israel on October 7 was killed in an airstrike on Tuesday.

The strike in Bureij killed Muhammad Jamal Ahmad Eid, also a member of Hamas’s Nukhba Force, according to the IDF.

An additional strike on Tuesday, this one in Gaza City, killed Saleh Ziad Ibrahim Miqdad, who, according to the IDF, was a platoon commander in Hamas’s naval force.

Both terror operatives had been advancing attacks on troops and Israeli civilians, training Hamas terrorists, and restoring the group’s capabilities, “in systematic violation of the ceasefire,” the army said.

“The terrorists were eliminated to remove the threat they posed,” the IDF added.

In the past three weeks alone, 29 terror operatives were killed in Israeli strikes in the Strip, including two Hamas brigade commanders, a battalion commander, and some 10 other mid-level commanders in the terror group’s elite Nukhba Force, according to the military.

Israel’s strikes against Hamas operatives and members of other terror groups in Gaza have continued despite the October 2025 ceasefire brokered by US President Donald Trump. The issue has been a growing point of contention with the US-backed Board of Peace, as it seeks to advance Trump’s plans for the Strip’s future.

Nevertheless, Netanyahu reiterated Israel’s commitment to going after all remaining Hamas terrorists in the Gaza Strip during a speech on Thursday at a ceremony honoring Shin Bet employees at the President’s Residence in Jerusalem.

The prime minister, in his remarks, rejected the notion that “Hamas is protected” within the area it controls in Gaza, and said that Israel was “settling accounts with these murderers who murdered our people, our daughters, our women and our children on October 7.”

“There are not many left because we are dealing with them,” Netanyahu asserted.

Israel, Netanyahu said, “will eliminate Hamas, and first and foremost we will defeat the regime in Iran. We will bring it down, it will fall. We will also deal with Hezbollah, and it too will fall.”

Netanyahu’s sentiments were echoed by Shin Bet director Zini, who, in his own remarks at the ceremony, vowed that “there is no place in the world too far away” for Israel to pursue its enemies.

“To the planners of the massacre, its perpetrators, and anyone who took part in desecrating the honor and blood of the state of Israel, and to anyone who wishes for our destruction, we have one uncompromising message,” said Zini.

“There is no place in the world too far away; there is no forgiveness, and there is no expiration date. We have pursued, are pursuing, and will continue to pursue you until the very last participant is found.”

The pledges from Israel’s top echelons to continue going after Hamas terrorists come nearly a year after the start of the US-backed ceasefire, which brought an end to large-scale fighting but not to intermittent Israeli strikes.

Hamas has accused Israel of violating the agreement, while Israel has accused terror groups of repeatedly breaching it and continuing efforts to rebuild its military capabilities, saying this justified the strikes.

The Gaza war began on October 7, 2023, when Hamas-led terrorists invaded southern Israel, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking 251 people hostage.

The ensuing war between Israel and Hamas has killed over 73,400 people in Gaza, including more than 1,330 since the October 2025 ceasefire, according to the Hamas-run health ministry in the enclave, which does not differentiate between combatants and civilians.

The Israeli military says it has killed over 24,000 combatants in Gaza and another 1,200 terrorists inside Israel during the October 7 onslaught. It believes that Hamas’s overall toll is largely accurate, with IDF officials estimating that two to three civilians were killed for every dead terror operative.

Gaza remains bisected into Israeli- and Hamas-controlled areas, and talks to bring about Hamas’s disarmament and the territory’s reconstruction have made only limited progress.