Police release footage of strike that killed Noa Argamani's abductor

Update, 27 September, 20:07 Israel time

The Israel Police have released video of the strike that killed Saher Saqr. Ynet reported that the footage shows Saqr being tracked before he is hit precisely from the air, followed by a column of smoke. Ynet again cited the IDF as saying Saqr was targeted because he was still advancing plans for attacks.

Commentator Amit Segal wrote on Telegram that the video was filmed by a police drone. This is the first description in the reporting of how the strike was carried out, which earlier accounts had not given.

On the disputed date, Emanuel Fabian, military correspondent for The Times of Israel, wrote that the military and the Shin Bet said the Nuseirat strike took place the day before their announcement, in line with his paper's earlier account. Haaretz's report placing the killing on Sunday has not been revised in the material available. Israel.com continues to report both versions.

None of the new reports gives information on other casualties in the strike or any reaction from Argamani, Or or their families. None of them reports the killing of anyone else involved in the abduction.

Update, 27 September, 18:07 Israel time

The Times of Israel now separates the timing of the strike from the timing of the announcement. In a full report, The Times of Israel said the military and the Shin Bet made their announcement on Sunday, while the strike in Nuseirat that targeted Saher Nidal Saqr took place the day before. Haaretz's earlier account placed the killing itself on Sunday. Israel.com is reporting both accounts and has not resolved the difference.

The same report added that Avinatan Or, who was seized alongside Argamani, was freed from Gaza last year. It also described the footage of the abduction as showing Argamani stretching her arms toward Or while he was being led away on foot. The paper again attributed the operation to Gideonim Unit 33 of the Israel Police, citing the statement.

Joe Truzman, an analyst at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, wrote on X that the military had confirmed Saqr's death and his role in taking Argamani.

The newer reports still give no details on other casualties or on how the strike was carried out.

Update, 27 September, 12:08 Israel time

Reports now differ on the day of the strike, and a new account places it on a specific street in western Nuseirat. Haaretz reported that Saher Nidal Latfi Saqr was killed on Sunday, not Saturday as our earlier account stated. Haaretz attributes this to a joint statement it describes as issued by the IDF, the Shin Bet and the Lahav 433 police unit together. Israel.com has not resolved the discrepancy over the date.

The Hebrew-language Telegram channel Abu Ali Express, which reports on Arab affairs, gave a more precise location. The channel said the IDF struck on Jouls Street in the western part of the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, killing a man it named as Saher Saqr and describing him as a militant who had entered Israeli territory during the October 7 attack. Its post, published shortly before our original article, said the strike had happened a short time earlier. It did not say whether anyone else was hurt.

The newer reports still give no information on other casualties in the strike, on the method used beyond it being a strike, or on any reaction from Argamani, Or or their families.

The story as first reported

Israel's military and its domestic security service say they have killed the man who was filmed carrying Noa Argamani into Gaza on a motorcycle during the October 7 attack. In a joint announcement, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and the Israel Security Agency (ISA, also known as the Shin Bet) said they struck in the Nuseirat area of the Gaza Strip on Saturday and killed Saher Nidal Latfi Sakr.

Word of the killing first circulated through Palestinian reports. Ynet's alert channel initially attributed the news to Palestinian sources, and a later alert from the same outlet said the IDF and Shin Bet had confirmed it. N12 also reported that an IDF official had confirmed the name of the man killed.

Who the IDF says was killed

According to the military, Sakr was an operative linked to what it called "global jihadist organizations" active in the Gaza Strip. The IDF said on X that he had supplied weapons to Hamas during the war, that he crossed into Israel on October 7, and that he drove the motorcycle used to take Argamani and her partner, Avinatan Or, from the Nova music festival into Gaza. The military added that he had recently been advancing attacks on Israeli civilians and soldiers, and said he was killed to remove that threat.

The Times of Israel reported, citing the statement, that he worked with operatives from the military wings of Hamas and Islamic Jihad in planning those recent attacks.

His surname appears in different English spellings. The IDF writes it as Sakr, while The Times of Israel uses Saqr. Some Hebrew reports include the middle name Latfi and others shorten the name.

Noa Argamani and the Nova festival

Argamani was taken hostage on October 7, 2023, the day Hamas-led gunmen crossed from Gaza into southern Israel. She and Or were seized at the Nova music festival, an outdoor event that was among the sites attacked that day. Video of her being driven away on a motorcycle became one of the most widely circulated images of the attack.

The Jerusalem Post noted that Israeli forces brought her home on June 8, 2024, during a military mission known as Operation Arnon.

The units and the place

The Shin Bet is Israel's internal security service and regularly works with the army on operations in Gaza. The announcement said the strike was carried out together with Gideonim Unit 33, part of Lahav 433, which The Times of Israel described as an elite unit of the Israel Police. Nuseirat lies in the central Gaza Strip.

Ynet described the killing as part of an ongoing effort by Israel's security forces to pursue people who took part in the October 7 massacre. The same Ynet report also mentioned casualties in a separate Israeli strike on the Shati camp on Sunday morning, which is not described as connected to the killing of Sakr.

Where the accounts differ

The reports frame Sakr's role in slightly different ways. Israel Hayom and the IDF describe him as the driver of the motorcycle. The Times of Israel says he took part in the abduction and was shown taking Argamani to Gaza. Ynet and Israel Hayom call the strike an airstrike, while The Times of Israel's account attributes the strike to the police unit, and the official statement credits the IDF and Shin Bet acting together with that unit.

What the reports do not say

None of the reports gives the exact time of the strike, describes how it was carried out beyond its location, or says whether anyone else was killed or wounded in it. The reports do not name the specific global jihadist groups Sakr is said to have been linked to, and they do not describe the recent attacks he is alleged to have been planning. The details of his background and activities come from the IDF and Shin Bet and have not been independently confirmed in the material. No reaction from Argamani, Or or their families appears in the reports.