The Israeli army announced on Sunday that it had killed a Gaza resident, Saher Saqr, who was allegedly involved in the abduction of Israelis into the Gaza Strip on October 7, 2023. Saqr was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Nuseirat in the central part of the coastal strip on Saturday. The al-Aqsa Hospital in the Gaza Strip confirmed the death, adding that three other people were injured in the strike.
According to sources within the Palestinian militant organization Hamas, Saqr had been involved in the hostage-taking nearly three years ago. The Israeli army confirmed Palestinian reports that Saqr had ridden the motorbike on which Israeli woman, Noa Argamani and her boyfriend Avinatan Or, were abducted. Footage of her being taken away on a motorbike, desperately crying out for help, circulated widely on social media.
Noa Argamani was abducted from the Nova music festival in Israel to the adjacent coastal territory. Her fate had prompted an outpouring of sympathy worldwide. In June 2024, Argamani was freed from Hamas captivity by an Israeli special forces unit, along with three other hostages. The army said the operation involved fierce clashes with armed Palestinians, resulting in 274 Palestinians killed, according to the Hamas-controlled health authority.
The Israeli army also confirmed that Saqr had most recently been involved in planning new attacks, and was therefore killed “to eliminate the threat he posed.” In a separate strike in the northern Gaza Strip on Tuesday, the Israeli army said it had killed a Hamas commander who held hostages in the Gaza Strip. The commander had been involved in the captivity of nine hostages during the Gaza war.
The Hamas commander killed in the northern Gaza Strip was involved in the captivity of German-Israeli brothers Gali and Ziv Berman and German-Israeli Alon Ohel. The three were released as part of a ceasefire agreement in October last year. A ceasefire in the Gaza war has technically been in place since October 2025, but deadly strikes continue to occur.
Israel has recently stepped up its airstrikes, saying it has been targeting and killing senior members of Hamas. On October 7, 2023, Hamas fighters and members of other extremist organizations killed around 1,200 people in Israel and abducted more than 250 others as hostages to Gaza. The unprecedented attack triggered the Gaza war.
Since the start of the Gaza war, more than 74,000 Palestinians have been killed in the Gaza Strip, according to the Hamas-controlled health authority. Last year, Noa Argamani addressed the UN Security Council, describing the horrific conditions of her captivity.
Key points
- Saher Saqr was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Nuseirat in the central part of the Gaza Strip on Saturday.
- Noa Argamani was freed from Hamas captivity by an Israeli special forces unit in June 2024.
- Israel has recently stepped up its airstrikes, targeting and killing senior members of Hamas.
