The IDF and the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) on Saturday killed a terrorist leader who was “directly involved” in the kidnapping of Shiri Bibas and her children, Kfir and Ariel, from Kibbutz Nir Oz and their subsequent murder in Gaza, the defense bodies announced in a joint statement.
Asaad Abu Sharia, slain in Gaza City, was the head of the Mujahideen Brigades (“Kataeb al-Mujahideen”).
He was “one of the ringleaders of the brutal massacre [the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, attack] and was also involved in the abduction of the late couple Gadi Haggai and Judy Lynn Weinstein, as well as in the kidnapping and murder of [Thai national] Nattapong Pinta, and another foreign national who is still being held [in Gaza],” the statement continued.
During the war in Gaza, Abu Sharia was responsible for initiating attacks against the State of Israel and IDF soldiers operating in the Gaza Strip, the military and Shin Bet said.
Another top terrorist from the Mujahideen Brigades was killed on Saturday in a separate operation, the statement added.
Mahmoud Kaheel invaded Nir Oz on Oct. 7, 2023, and he was involved in keeping the Bibas family in captivity, the military said.
“Terrorists from the Kataeb al-Mujahideen organization played a significant role in the brutal massacre on October 7. They participated in acts of kidnapping and murder, despite not being privy to Hamas’s operational plans. Instead, they acted as executors and opportunists of Hamas’s terror infrastructure within Israeli territory,” the statement concluded.
The Mujahideen Brigades, a Salafist group, collaborates closely with Palestinian Islamic Jihad’s armed wing, the Al-Quds Brigades (“Saraya Al-Quds”).
On Friday, the body of agriculture worker Pinta was recovered in a special operation carried out in Rafah by the IDF and Shin Bet.
The operation involved forces from the IDF’s Combat Engineering Corps, including its Yahalom engineering special forces unit, and the army’s Oketz canine unit, the statement added.
Pinta’s wife and son in Thailand were informed on Saturday morning of the latest development by the Thai embassy in Israel and the coordinator for hostages and missing persons, Brig. Gen. (res.) Gal Hirsch.
