Israel News

Israel kills head of terror group that held Bibas family in Gaza

Musbah Salim Musbah Dayyah, head of the Mujahideen terrorist organization in Gaza, who oversaw terror attacks and led the group responsible for holding the Bibas family hostage, was eliminated in a joint IDF and Shin Bet operation in the Nuseirat area. (Credit: IDF.)

Mujahideen terrorists played a “significant” role in the Oct. 7, 2023, massacre, participating in “acts of abduction and murder,” according to the IDF.

By JNS

Israel last week eliminated the head of the Mujahideen terrorist organization in the Gaza Strip, the group responsible for holding Shiri Bibas and her children.

Musbah Salim Musbah Dayyah, who was killed in the area of Nuseirat, was the fourth leader of the terror group eliminated by the Israel Defense Forces in recent months, according to a military statement on Wednesday.

He was responsible for recruiting terrorists in Judea and Samaria and within the Green Line of Israel to advance and carry out terrorist attacks and terrorist activity, the IDF said.

“Throughout the war, the organization under his leadership was involved in orchestrating terror attacks against the State of Israel and attacks against IDF troops operating in the Gaza Strip,” according to the statement, which added that his elimination “further degrades the ability to direct terror attacks from the Gaza Strip in Judea and Samaria and in Israel.”

Mujahideen terrorists played a “significant” role in the Oct. 7, 2023 massacre, participating in “acts of abduction and murder,” according to the IDF.

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Despite being unaware of Hamas’s plans, they acted “as an extension and exploited Hamas’ acts of terror within Israel,” the military said.

Mujahideen terrorists reportedly held Shiri Bibas and her two children, Ariel and Kfir, in Gaza after they were abducted along with Shiri’s husband, Yarden Bibas, from Kibbutz Nir Oz during the Oct. 7, 2023 massacre.

Shiri and the two children were killed in Gaza in November 2023, and their bodies were returned to Israel. Hamas released Yarden Bibas alive on Feb. 1, 2025. The bodies of the two children were released by Hamas on Feb. 20, 2025.

Another woman was mistakenly handed over to Israel along with the children during the exchange. After the mix-up, Shiri’s remains were released on February 22.

The Mujahideen was also responsible for the killings of Gadi Haggai and Judith Weinstein, who were murdered at Nir Oz on Oct. 7 and whose bodies were taken to Gaza, before being recovered in a special operation in June; and Thai hostage Nattapong Pinta.