IDF says strike in Nuseirat killed Hamas commander tied to holding hostages

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF), Israel's military, said it had killed Ihab Jamil Abu Taqiya, whom it described as a squad commander in the military wing of Hamas, in a strike carried out on Thursday in the Nuseirat area of the Gaza Strip. According to the IDF spokesperson, Abu Taqiya took part in keeping a large number of Israelis captive in the early stage of the war.

The military said a second man, Ibrahim Gihad Muhammad Abu Oshaiba, whom it identified as a Hamas platoon commander, died in the same strike. In its post on X, the IDF said both men had lately been pushing forward attacks on Israeli troops and civilians and working to rebuild Hamas's capabilities, which it called a systematic breach of the ceasefire. Hebrew-language outlets Ynet and N12 carried the military's announcement in brief alerts.

The hostages named by the military

The IDF linked Abu Taqiya to a list of named hostages. Among them were Emily Hand and Noa Argamani; the list also includes Raya Rotem and Hila Rotem Shoshani, as well as Ohad Ben Ami, Shlomi Ziv, Andrey Kozlov and Almog Meir Jan, along with Yosef Haim Ohana and Maxim Herkin. The Times of Israel reported that the military's list also named Segev Kalfon and Alex Lobanov, and described the total as a dozen Israelis. Joe Truzman, an analyst at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), a research institute, wrote that the commander helped hold at least 12 hostages, attributing the figure to the Israeli military.

The IDF Telegram text available to us ends after Ohana's name and does not include Kalfon or Lobanov. That text may have been cut off; the fuller list appears in the Times of Israel report and in posts by its military correspondent, Emanuel Fabian.

Where Nuseirat is

Nuseirat lies in the centre of the Gaza Strip, the coastal territory where Israel has fought Hamas during the war. The Times of Israel illustrated its report with an Associated Press photograph of Palestinians searching through rubble in Nuseirat after an earlier overnight Israeli strike, dated October 23, 2026. According to the Times of Israel, a post by the Israeli Air Force said the air force carried out Thursday's strike, and Truzman likewise called it an airstrike.

Squads, platoons and the military wing

The IDF's statements refer specifically to the military wing of Hamas rather than to the movement as a whole. The military uses conventional army terms to describe rank within that wing: in standard usage a squad is a small unit, and a platoon is a larger formation made up of several squads. The IDF placed its emphasis on Abu Taqiya because of the hostage connection, while giving fewer details about Abu Oshaiba.

The ceasefire claim

The IDF framed the strike as a response to activity it said violated the ceasefire in Gaza. Its statement accused both men of advancing attacks and of efforts to restore Hamas's capacity. The reports reviewed here do not describe the specific attacks or the evidence behind that assessment, and they carry no response from Hamas.

What the reports do not say

None of the reports gives the time of the strike on Thursday, the exact location within Nuseirat, or whether anyone else was killed or injured. They do not say where or for how long Abu Taqiya is alleged to have held each hostage, or what his specific role was. No Palestinian source is quoted, and Hamas has not, in this material, confirmed or disputed the deaths of either man. The identities and roles of both men rest on the IDF's account; the other organisations attribute them to the military rather than confirming them independently. The reports also do not settle the discrepancy in the length of the hostage list between the IDF text available to us and the Times of Israel's version.