IDF says Gaza City strike killed Hamas cell commander tied to Be'eri abductions

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) says it has killed two Hamas operatives who crossed into Israel during the October 7 attack, one of whom it accuses of taking part in abducting six people from Kibbutz Be'eri. According to a statement from the IDF spokesperson, the man in question is Muhammad Jamal Mahmoud Abu Al-Shaar, whom the military described as a cell commander in the armed wing of Hamas. It says he died in a Tuesday strike in the Gaza City area.

The IDF names six people it says Abu Al-Shaar helped seize from Be'eri: Shoshan Haran, along with Sharon Hertzman-Avigdori and Noam Avigdori, and Adi, Nave and Yahel Shoham. Emanuel Fabian, military correspondent for the Times of Israel, relayed the announcement, writing that Israeli strikes inside the Gaza Strip had killed both men in the days before the statement, and that Abu Al-Shaar entered the kibbutz on October 7, 2023. Fabian posted the same account on X.

Who the IDF says was killed

The only operative named in the available material is Abu Al-Shaar. The military places him at the level of a cell commander, a field rank within the military wing of Hamas, the Islamist movement that has governed Gaza and whose fighters led the cross-border assault on October 7. The IDF statement says he did more than take part in the infiltration: it ties him personally to the abduction of named residents of Be'eri.

The second operative is mentioned in both the IDF statement and Fabian's reports, which describe two men killed, but the text available to us is cut off before any name, rank or location of the second strike is given. This article therefore does not identify him.

What Kibbutz Be'eri is

A kibbutz is a type of Israeli community that began as a collective farming settlement, with property and work historically shared among members. Many kibbutzim, including Be'eri, sit in the area of southern Israel close to the Gaza Strip, the region Israelis often call the Gaza envelope. Be'eri was among the communities that Hamas gunmen entered on October 7, and the abductions the IDF links to Abu Al-Shaar took place there.

The six people named in the statement include members of the Avigdori and Shoham families as well as Shoshan Haran. The reports list them as people taken hostage; they do not describe what happened to them afterwards, and this article does not either.

How announcements like this work

Since the October 7 attack, the IDF has regularly published statements naming individual Hamas members it says it has killed and linking them to specific acts carried out that day, such as entering a particular community or taking specific people captive. These announcements are issued by the IDF spokesperson's unit, the military's official communications office, often through its Telegram channel, and are then picked up by Israeli military correspondents.

In this case, the original claim comes from the military. Fabian's reports attribute the identification of Abu Al-Shaar and his alleged role to the IDF rather than presenting independent findings, describing him as a commander identified as such by the army. The two organisations represented in the material agree on the core facts: two operatives killed, a Tuesday strike in Gaza City, and Abu Al-Shaar's alleged role at Be'eri. Fabian's wording adds the year of the attack, 2023, which the truncated IDF text does not reach.

What the reports do not say

Several questions remain open in the material available:

• The second operative. His name, rank, alleged role on October 7 and where he was killed are not given in the text we have.
• The strikes themselves. The reports do not say what kind of strike was used, whether anyone else was killed or hurt, or the exact location within the Gaza City area.
• The evidence. The IDF does not explain how it established Abu Al-Shaar's involvement in the Be'eri abductions, and no source outside the military has confirmed it.
• The hostages. The reports name the six people but say nothing about their current situation.
• Any Hamas response. There is no comment from Hamas in the material, and no confirmation from Gaza of either death.