An Israeli strike in northern Gaza eliminated a Hamas terrorist who infiltrated Israel on October 7th and took part in the abduction of 85-year-old Yaffa Adar, the military confirmed Thursday.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF), backed by the Shin Bet security agency “struck and eliminated in the area of Gaza City the terrorist Muhammad Rasmi Marzouq Barakeh, a terrorist in the military intelligence of Hamas, who infiltrated into Israel during the brutal October 7th massacre, and participated in the abduction of Yaffa Adar,” the military said in a statement Thursday.
Yaffa Adar, grandmother of eight children and great-grandmother of seven, was released by Hamas in exchange for terrorists after 49 days of captivity. She was kidnapped from her home in Kibbutz Nir Oz. Hamas invaders murdered 47 members of her community and took 76 of them hostage on October 7, 2023.
The Israeli news website YNET reports:
The IDF said Thursday it eliminated a Hamas terrorist involved in the deadly October 7 cross-border attack and the abduction of hostage Yafa Adar, whose capture became one of the most iconic images of the assault.According to a joint statement from the military and the Shin Bet security agency, Muhammad Rasmi Marzouq Barakeh, a member of Hamas’ military intelligence wing, was killed in an airstrike near Gaza City on Wednesday. Barakeh took part in the October 7 massacre and was identified in footage sitting beside Adar in the vehicle that transported her into Gaza.”The Hamas terrorist organization systematically violates international law while using civilian infrastructure for its terrorist activities,” the IDF said. “The IDF and Shin Bet will continue to operate against Hamas to protect the State of Israel.”
Another terrorist involved in the kidnapping the elderly woman had previously been eliminated by the IDF in Gaza, media reports suggest. “The second terrorist in the car, Asim Hatab, was reportedly killed several months following Adar’s abduction, though the military has not confirmed this,” The Times of Israel reported.
Adar’s 38-year-old grandson, Tamir Adar, was killed by Hamas while he defended his community. The terrorist group took his body to Gaza and is using it as a bargaining chip in the current hostage negotiations.
The Israeli news website Arutz Sheva reported Adar’s response to the killing of her captor:
Survivor of Hamas captivity Yaffa Adar, commented on the elimination of one of the terrorists who abducted her during the October 7th Massacre.”I salute the security forces who took part in eliminating the terrorist who brutally abducted me from my home on that cursed Saturday. Upon seeing the video and the news about the terrorist’s elimination, one might think I would feel a sense of closure.”I want to clarify and emphasize that there is no possibility of closure as long as my eldest grandson, Tamir, who went out to defend the community, was injured, abducted, and did not survive his wounds, remains held captive in Gaza along with 58 other hostages. The only victory that will allow us to recover is the return of all the hostages,” Adar said.
After the Israeli government approved a plan to expand the Gaza operation earlier this week, the IDF continues to target Hamas’s terrorist fighting forces and infrastructure.
An Israeli airstrike in central Gaza took out Hamas’s commander, who belonged to its rocket manufacturing unit. “IDF carried out a strike in the Deir al-Balah area, eliminating terrorist Nasr Sobhi Ibrahim Jumaa, a commander in the Hamas terror organization’s rocket production headquarters,” the Israel military said in a statement Thursday. “Jumaa was a senior terrorist in the unit and played an active role in the rocket manufacturing process.”
Israeli armed forces were hitting terrorist targets across Gaza. “IDF troops, with the direction of the IDF and ISA intelligence, continue to operate against terrorist organizations throughout the Gaza Strip, dismantling terrorist infrastructure sites and eliminating terrorists,” the military disclosed Thursday.
“In the southern Gaza Strip, an aircraft struck several terrorists who attempted to plant an explosive device near IDF troops, as well as a weapons depot and a structure in which several terrorists were operating and had fired toward IDF troops,” the statement added. “Over the past 72 hours, the IAF struck over 150 terror targets in the Gaza Strip, including terrorist cells, underground terrorist infrastructure sites, and military structures from which terrorists were operating.”
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