IDF kills Hamas captor nicknamed ‘The Troll’ who tormented hostages

Those freed of Zaid Zaki Abd al-Hadi Akl’s grip expressed joy and relief over his death.

By Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News

One of the Hamas terrorists who led the psychological torture of Israeli hostages in the tunnels of Gaza was eliminated last week by the IDF, the army announced Wednesday.

Zaid Zaki Abd al-Hadi Akl had been nicknamed “The Troll” by the six hostages he was responsible for underground – Bar Kuperstein, Ohad Ben Ami, Maxim Herkin, Elkana Bohbot, Yosef Chaim Ohana and Segev Kalfon.

Kalfon described the man’s heinous actions in a post to social media after news broke of his assassination.

“The Troll was eliminated today. He wasn’t just ‘another terrorist,’ he was the gateway to hell,” Kalfon wrote.

“It was in his house that the shaft was where we were lowered into the tunnel — the place where our lives above ground ended, and we descended into an abyss that no person should ever know.”

“Holding us captive, he watched and encouraged the ‘Game of Life,’ [where] they would stand around us, count us, cock their Kalashnikovs, release the safety catch, and tell us to decide which three they’d kill,” he recalled.

“We’re all here today because of the grace of God,” he added. “There are those who will say, ‘He got what was coming to him,’ but we have to continue pursuing truth and justice. No bullet that eliminates a terrorist concludes a single story.”

Kuperstein reacted by saying, “This is it. They trolled the Troll today… Thank God, I got out of hell, and the Troll was sent straight to hell.”

“I’m glad to be home again, and a bit happier today that this evil person is not around anymore. With God’s help, the same will happen to all the evil ones.”

Yoseph Haddad, an Israeli Arab known for his vocal defense of Israel during the war and a proponent of harsh measures against all its enemies, echoed thousands of online users who applauded the targeted assassination when he posted on Facebook his delight that Akl was dead.

The hostages are free, but Akl “is in hell!” he wrote. “And he’s not the last. We’ll get to each one – every dog on his own day.”

The IDF said that it had eliminated Akl “in a joint operation with the Israel Security Service, led by the Southern Command and through the air force on Oct. 29,” showing grainy footage of an airstrike on a target in Gaza.

The attack took place as part of “a series of significant strikes” on Hamas targets throughout the Strip, the army said, the day after terrorists shot and killed Master Sgt. (res.) Yona Efraim Feldbaum, while he was operating a bulldozer in Rafah.