Israeli forces say they killed Saher Saqr in an airstrike in Nuseirat; Saqr is accused of riding the motorbike used to abduct Noa Argamani and Avinatan Or on Oct. 7, 2023. Three people were wounded in the strike. A separate operation killed a Hamas commander blamed for holding nine hostages, including the Berman brothers and Alon Ohel. Argamani was freed in June 2024 in a special forces raid that Gaza health authorities say killed 274 Palestinians. The conflict remains tense despite a technical ceasefire.
Israel Says Suspected Oct. 7 Kidnapper Saher Saqr and Hamas Commander Killed in Gaza
FILE PHOTO - Volunteers from the Humat al-Turath team carry out restoration work as part of an initiative to protect the historic Abu Salim Mosque, which was recently damaged in an Israeli airstrike. (is associated with: «Israel says October 7 kidnapper and Hamas commander killed in Gaza») Moiz Salhi/APA Images via ZUMA Press Wire/dpa
The Israeli military said on Sunday that it had killed a Gaza resident accused of taking part in abductions into the Gaza Strip during the October 7, 2023 attacks, and in a separate strike killed a Hamas commander believed to have held hostages during the ensuing war.
Saher Saqr was reported killed in an Israeli airstrike on Saturday in Nuseirat, in central Gaza, a death the al-Aqsa Hospital in Gaza also confirmed. Three other people were injured in the strike. Hamas sources and Israeli officials said Saqr was alleged to have participated in the October 7 hostage-taking.
The Israeli army said it had corroborated Palestinian accounts that Saqr rode the motorbike used to abduct Israeli woman Noa Argamani and her partner Avinatan Or. The military said Saqr had been involved recently in planning new attacks and was targeted "to eliminate the threat he posed," language commonly used by the army when striking suspected militants.
Argamani's abduction from the Nova music festival and her transfer into Gaza drew widespread attention after video of her being carried away on a motorbike circulated on social media. In June 2024 she was freed by an Israeli special forces operation that, according to Hamas-controlled health authorities, resulted in 274 Palestinian deaths; those figures did not distinguish between fighters and civilians. Argamani later told the U.N. Security Council about the conditions she endured in captivity.
In a separate strike in northern Gaza on Tuesday, the army said it had killed a Hamas commander who was implicated in holding hostages. In a joint statement, the Israeli military and the domestic intelligence agency Shin Bet said the commander had been involved in the captivity of nine hostages during the Gaza war, including German-Israeli brothers Gali and Ziv Berman and German-Israeli Alon Ohel, who were released under a ceasefire agreement in October last year.
The conflict remains volatile despite a ceasefire that has technically been in place since October 2025; both sides report periodic deadly strikes. Israel has said it has recently intensified airstrikes aimed at senior Hamas figures.
Background: On October 7, 2023, fighters from Hamas and other armed groups carried out a large-scale attack that killed roughly 1,200 people in Israel and saw more than 250 people taken hostage and brought into Gaza, an assault that precipitated the Gaza war. Since then, the Hamas-controlled health authority reports that more than 74,000 Palestinians have died in the Gaza Strip. All casualty figures are reported by involved parties and may not be independently verified.
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