The Israel Defense Forces killed a Hamas commander who was involved in holding numerous hostages in the Gaza Strip, the military said on Sunday.
Ihab Jamil Abu Taqiya, a squad commander in Hamas’s military wing, was killed in an Israeli airstrike in the Nuseirat area of central Gaza on Thursday, according to the IDF.
Abu Taqiya was involved in holding at least 13 hostages at the beginning of the war, including Raya Rotem, Hila Rotem Shoshani, Emily Hand, Ohad Ben Ami, Noa Argamani, Andrey Kozlov, Shlomi Ziv, Almog Meir Jan, Maxim Herkin, Yosef Haim Ohana, Segev Kalfon and Alexander Lobanov.
The IDF did not specify which hostages Abu Taqiya personally guarded or the periods during which they were held.
Several of the hostages named by the military were rescued in IDF operations, while others were released in hostage deals.
Argamani, Kozlov, Ziv and Meir Jan were rescued from Hamas captivity in Nuseirat in June 2024 in a joint operation by the IDF, Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) and Israel Police.
Emily Hand, Hila Rotem Shoshani and Raya Rotem were among those released during the November 2023 hostage deal.
Lobanov was murdered in Hamas captivity. His body was recovered by Israeli forces from a tunnel in Rafah in southern Gaza in August 2024 along with the bodies of five other hostages.
The IDF said that Ibrahim Gihad Muhammad Abu Oshaiba, a platoon commander in Hamas’s military wing, was also killed in Thursday’s strike.
According to the military, the two Hamas terrorists had throughout the war advanced attacks against Israeli troops and civilians and worked to rebuild the terrorist organization’s capabilities.
The IDF said those activities had continued recently in “systematic violation of the ceasefire” and that the airstrike was carried out to eliminate the threat they posed.
Before carrying out the strike, the military said it took measures to minimize harm to civilians, including the use of precision munitions and aerial surveillance.
Israeli forces under the Southern Command remain deployed in the Gaza Strip in accordance with the ceasefire agreement and “will continue to operate to remove any threat,” the IDF said.
