The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) on Friday said it had killed the terrorist leader responsible for the abduction of, and "likely personally involved" in the murder of, Shiri Bibas and her young sons, Kfir, 10-months old, and Ariel, four years old.
Mohammed Hassan Mohammed Awad, a senior commander in the Palestinian Mujahideen terrorist organization and who helped lead "several" attacks on the Nir Oz kibbutz on Oct. 7, 2023, has been "eliminated," the IDF said Friday.
He was also responsible for the abductions and burial of Americans Judi Weinstein Haggai and Gad Haggai, as well as the capture of Thai hostages.
FUNERAL HELD FOR SHIRI BIBAS AND HER SONS AFTER THEIR REMAINS HANDED OVER BY HAMAS
"As part of his role in the terrorist organization, Mohammad Awad was actively involved until his death in recruiting terror operatives in Judea and Samaria and within Israel, through whom he used to plan and carry out attacks against Israelis," the IDF said in a statement alongside the Israel Securities Authority.
Nir Oz was one of the communities hardest hit in the Oct.7, 2023 attacks, and news of the Bibas family abduction caught global attention after brutal images surfaced of Shiri clutching her sons during their capture by the terrorists.
Shiri's husband Yarden was also captured, though by Hamas terrorists, while trying to defend his family, and they were not held together.
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Yarden was released after 15 months in captivity in January, and the bodies of his wife and children were released in February.
Hamas forced Yarden to be filmed while a fellow Israeli captive was coerced into telling him that his wife and sons had been killed by an Israeli air strike.
Israel repeatedly denied the accusation, noting there was no intelligence to confirm it, and after receiving the bodies, conducted forensic analysis that showed they were killed "in cold blood" no later than November 2023.
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"The terrorists did not shoot the two young boys - they killed them with their bare hands. Afterward, they committed horrific acts to cover up these atrocities," the then IDF Spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said in late February.
The IDF did not release details on the operation that killed Awad, noting only that he had been "struck and eliminated."
