Israel News
IDF Kills Zaher Abu Salem, October 7 Kidnapper from Islamic Jihad, in Gaza Strike
Zaher Abu Salem, involved in the October 7 massacre and abductions, was killed in a northern Gaza airstrike by IDF and Shin Bet.
- Hidabroot
- | Updated
פורסם: 2026-06-29 11:34:33 | עכשיו: 2026-06-29 11:34
The IDF and the Shin Bet announced Monday that the previous day they had eliminated Zaher Brahem Khalil Abu Salem, a member of Palestinian Islamic Jihad, in an airstrike in northern Gaza. Abu Salem had crossed into Israeli territory during the October 7 massacre and played a direct role in abducting Israeli civilians from their homes.
According to the joint statement from the IDF Spokesperson and the Shin Bet, Abu Salem's terrorist activity did not end on October 7. Throughout the war, and in recent weeks in particular, he had been working to advance multiple attack plots against IDF soldiers and Israeli civilians. Security officials described him as an active and ongoing threat to forces operating in Gaza at the time of his elimination.
The IDF noted that beyond his role in the massacre and the abductions, Abu Salem posed an immediate operational threat to Israeli forces in the field. The announcement concluded by stating that IDF Southern Command forces continue to operate in the area in accordance with the existing agreement, with the mission of eliminating every threat.
The strike is the latest in a series of targeted operations against individuals who took part in the October 7 attack. This past weekend, the IDF and Shin Bet killed Walid Haniyeh, deputy commander of the Nukhba company in Hamas's military wing. According to the IDF, Haniyeh was among the commanders of the force that carried out the massacre and personally crossed into Israeli territory that day.
The Nukhba forces were the elite infiltration units that led the October 7 assault, breaching the border fence and spreading into Israeli communities, kibbutzim, and the Nova music festival site, where they carried out the bulk of the killings and abductions. Tracking down and eliminating members of those units has been a priority for Israeli security forces since the early stages of the war.
Palestinian Islamic Jihad is the second-largest armed group in Gaza after Hamas, operating with Iranian backing and responsible for numerous rocket attacks against Israel over the years. Its members participated in the October 7 invasion alongside Hamas fighters, and Israeli forces have been targeting its operatives throughout the military campaign in Gaza.
The IDF has not provided a full accounting of how many October 7 participants have been killed since the war began, but recent announcements suggest the targeting campaign against those individuals remains active, even as broader military operations in parts of Gaza have shifted in focus and scale.
