The IDF and Israel’s internal security service (known by the acronyms Shabak or Shin Bet) announced on Friday that they had identified and eliminated in an airstrike Muhammad Hassan Muhammad Awad, a senior member of the terrorist Mujahideen Brigades, who oversaw the kidnapping and likely was also involved in the murder of Shiri Bibas and her two young sons, Ariel (four years old) and Kfir (10-months old).
Image IDF Spokesperson’s Unit
Forensic examinations determined that Shiri Bibas was “brutally” murdered by her captors in November 2023, alongside her sons, who were killed with “bare hands.”
Shiri’s husband, Yarden was also captured, though by Hamas terrorists, while trying to defend his family, and they were not held together. 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 an Israeli air strike had killed his wife and sons.
The IDF said Awad had infiltrated Kibbutz Nir Oz on Oct. 7 and was “likely involved in their murder” during the early weeks of the war. They also idenbtified Awad as being responsible for the abductions and burial of Americans Judi Weinstein Haggai and Gad Haggai, as well as the capture of Thai hostages.
“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.
The IDF and Shin Bet also said Friday that they’d killed a Hamas operative who “served as a propaganda and psychological terror operative” in an airstrike in Gaza this week. The terrorist, Mohammed Saleh al-Bardawil is frequently described in media as a journalist.
Terror groups in Gaza are still holding 59 hostages, 24 of whom are believed to be alive, while 35 have been confirmed dead by the IDF.
