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lite.cnn.com - on gopher - inofficial | |
ARTICLE VIEW: | |
• | |
3 min read | |
Israel says it has killed leader of Palestinian militant group that | |
took part in October 7 attack | |
By Jonny Hallam, Ibrahim Dahman and Lauren Izso, CNN | |
Updated: | |
8:28 PM EDT, Sat June 7, 2025 | |
Source: CNN | |
The Israeli military says it has killed the leader of a Palestinian | |
militant group that took part in the October 7, 2023 attacks on | |
southern Israel. | |
Asaad Abu Sharia, who led the Palestinian Mujahideen Movement and its | |
armed wing the Mujahideen Brigades, was killed in a joint operation | |
with Israel’s Shin Bet security agency, the Israel Defense Forces | |
(IDF) said on Saturday. | |
His death and that of his brother Ahmed Abu Sharia were confirmed by | |
the militant group hours after Gaza’s Civil Defense reported that an | |
Israeli airstrike had hit their family home in the Sabra area of Gaza | |
City. | |
Hamas-run Al-Aqsa TV said the strike killed at least 15 people and | |
injured several. Video showed people searching through the debris of a | |
demolished four-story house. | |
The Mujahideen Brigades took part in the October 7 attacks alongside | |
Hamas and other Palestinian militant groups and took hostage some of | |
the most high-profile captives, including a family whose suffering | |
became a symbol of the attack. | |
According to the Israeli military, Sharia was among the militant | |
leaders who stormed Kibbutz Nir Oz, a small Israeli community near the | |
Gaza border where many residents were killed or taken hostage during | |
the brutal assault that led to Israel’s war in Gaza. | |
Despite not being aware of Hamas’ plans in advance, fighters from the | |
jihadist group joined in the cross-border assault “as an extension of | |
the Hamas attack,” the Israeli military said. | |
According to Israel, Sharia was directly involved in the abduction and | |
murders of Shiri, Ariel and Kfir Bibas – a mother and two sons who | |
were among the most recognizable victims of the attack, partly because | |
of the young ages of Kfir and Ariel, who were nine months and four | |
years old respectively at the time. | |
Kfir was the youngest hostage kidnapped into Gaza and the youngest to | |
have been killed. The boys’ mother, Shiri, was 32 at the time of her | |
kidnap. Their father Yarden was also captured, but was released alive | |
in February after 484 days in captivity. | |
Reacting to news of Sharia’s killing, the Bibas family expressed | |
their “heartfelt gratitude” to the Israeli military, saying his | |
death was “another step on the journey towards closure.” | |
“While Shiri, Ariel, and Kfir cannot be brought back, we find some | |
measure of comfort knowing these despicable murderers will not harm | |
another family,” the Bibas family said in a statement shared via the | |
Hostages and Missing Families Forum. | |
Israel’s military said Sharia was also involved in the abduction of | |
the Israeli-American couple Gad Haggai and Judi Lynn Weinstein Haggai, | |
and the abduction and killing of Thai national Nattapong Pinta. | |
The Israeli-American couple were killed near their home in Kibbutz Nir | |
Oz during the attack in 2023. The body of Nattapong, an agricultural | |
worker who was abducted alive on October 7, was recovered from southern | |
in a military operation on Friday. | |
Israel said it believes the Mujahideen Brigades are still holding the | |
body of an additional foreign national. The group has previously denied | |
killing its captives. | |
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