Israel kills last Hamas terrorist at large from cell that abducted Shani Louk

Hamas terrorist who helped abduct Shani Louk on October 7, 2023, killed in an IDF airstrike this week.

By World Israel News Staff

The Israeli military and Shin Bet security agency announced Tuesday that they had eliminated the last Hamas terrorist still at large from the cell responsible for abducting the body of Shani Louk during the October 7, 2023, massacre.

The terrorist, identified as Tamer Mohammad Ibrahim Al-Zabaq, was killed Monday in an Israeli airstrike in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip.

Al-Zabaq was a member of Hamas’s elite Nukhba force who infiltrated Israel during the October 7 massacre and participated in the abduction of Louk, a 22-year-old German-Israeli woman murdered by Hamas terrorists at the Nova music festival near Kibbutz Re’im.

According to Israeli security officials, Al-Zabaq was the last remaining member of the five-man cell who was neither dead nor in Israeli custody.

Three other terrorists involved in the abduction were previously killed, while a fourth was captured by Israeli forces.

The three previously eliminated terrorists were identified as Mustafa Shaheen, killed on October 10, 2023; Basel Saleh, killed on December 6, 2023; and Atiya Daour, killed on August 20, 2025. The fifth member of the cell, Mustafa Alaa Khatib, is being held in Israel.

The IDF said Al-Zabaq remained actively involved in Hamas operations throughout the war and had recently participated in planning attacks against Israeli soldiers and civilians.

He was also involved in rebuilding the terrorist organization’s military capabilities, which the IDF described as a systematic violation of the existing ceasefire agreement.

The military said the airstrike was intended to eliminate the threat he continued to pose.

In a joint statement, the IDF and Shin Bet described the operation as “an important closing of the circle,” pledging to continue pursuing terrorists responsible for the October 7 massacre.

Shani’s father, Nissim Louk, welcomed the announcement.

“For me, this is welcome news. We must never stop hunting them, and they must pay for what they did,” he said.

Louk added that he was aware that the other members of the cell had already been eliminated, apart from the terrorist currently imprisoned in Israel.

Shani Louk, a tattoo artist and music enthusiast, was attending the Nova festival when Hamas terrorists stormed the gathering as part of the October 7 assault on southern Israel.

Photographs and videos showing her body being transported through Gaza in the back of a pickup truck surrounded by armed terrorists became among the most widely circulated images of the massacre.

The footage initially left her family uncertain about her fate, but Israeli authorities confirmed her death later that month after identifying a fragment of her skull through DNA testing.

Her remains were recovered by Israeli forces in Gaza on May 17, 2024, allowing her family to bring her home for burial.

Speaking after her body was recovered, her mother, Ricarda Louk, expressed relief that the family could finally lay her to rest.

“The body is back, we can bury her. It’s a little bit of relief we know where her body is and that she will be here in Israel buried,” she said at the time.

The elimination of Al-Zabaq was announced amid continuing Israeli operations against Hamas terrorists accused of participating in the October 7 atrocities and efforts to rebuild the organization’s military infrastructure.

In a separate operation Tuesday, Israeli forces eliminated Akram Bassam Shaaban Yassin, a senior member of Hamas’s general security apparatus, in Gaza City.

The IDF said Yassin belonged to a clandestine organization responsible for protecting senior Hamas officials, coordinating their movements and providing intelligence used in planning terrorist operations.