An Israeli drone strike in September eliminated the Palestinian terrorist who kidnapped Israel Defense Forces field observer Naama Levy during the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023 cross-border massacre, the military revealed on Thursday.
The news of Muhammad Abu Aseed’s death in Gaza was kept classified until the return of the five female soldiers who were taken hostage alongside Levy and held captive for almost 500 days.
The footage of Levy’s abduction from the IDF’s Nahal Oz base was widely shared on social media.
The video from Gaza showing the then 19-year-old being dragged bloodstained from a jeep with her hands bound became a symbol of the brutality of the terrorist attack, in which 1,200 people were murdered.
Levy, now 20, was freed on Saturday as part of a ceasefire agreement with Hamas, alongside soldiers Liri Albag, 19, Karina Ariev, 20, and Daniella Gilboa, 20. On Thursday, Agam Berger, 20, became the last of the hostage IDF field observers to be released by the terror organization.
One of the abducted observers, Ori Megidish, was rescued alive by the IDF in October 2023, while the body of a second one, Noa Marciano, was recovered by Israel a month later, after she was murdered by Hamas.