A Hamas terrorist who murdered IDF surveillance soldier Cpl. Noa Marciano in captivity at the start of the war in Gaza was killed in an airstrike earlier Wednesday, the military announced.
Muhammad Issam Hassan al-Habil, a Hamas cell commander, was targeted in Gaza City’s Shati Camp in response to an overnight attack on troops in northern Gaza, during which a reservist officer was seriously wounded by Palestinian gunmen, the IDF said.
According to the Shin Bet security agency, during interrogations of captured suspects, it emerged that al-Habil “brutally murdered” Marciano in captivity.
The IDF added that Wednesday’s strike was enabled by intelligence collected by the Gaza Division, where Marciano had served as a surveillance soldier as part of the 414th Combat Intelligence Collection Unit.
Marciano, who was abducted on October 7, 2023, from the Nahal Oz base, was later killed at Shifa Hospital, according to the military. Her body was recovered by the IDF in November 2023.
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Several Hamas terrorists involved in guarding Marciano were killed in strikes during the war.
Hamas terrorist Muhammad Issam Hassan al-Habil, whom the military says murdered hostage soldier Cpl. Noa Marciano in captivity, is targeted in an airstrike in Gaza City on February 4, 2026,. (Israel Defense Forces)
After the IDF announced that al-Habil was killed, Adi Marciano, Noa’s mother, said: “We were promised that everyone involved in Noa’s murder in Gaza would be eliminated, and this promise was kept today.”
“There is no real comfort in this,” she conceded, but added that “there is knowledge that justice was done, even if only partially, for Noa. Nothing will bring her back to us.”
“She was a beloved child, full of light, sensitivity, and joy of life, and her absence accompanies us every day and with every breath,” her mother continued. “The pain of her loss will never end.”
Hamas terrorist Muhammad Issam Hassan al-Habil, who the military says murdered hostage soldier Cpl. Noa Marciano in captivity. On February 4, 2026, al-Habil was killed in a strike. (Israel Defense Forces)
Marciano, 19, lived in Modiin and was the oldest of three siblings.
A month after her kidnapping, Hamas published a propaganda video of Marciano, showing her speaking to the camera four days after being taken hostage, identifying herself and reciting the names of her parents and her hometown. The video then cut to showing her dead body.
Family and friends attend the funeral of Israeli soldier Noa Marciano, who was killed in Hamas captivity, at the military cemetery in Modi’in, November 17, 2023. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
Then-IDF spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said that Marciano was wounded by an IDF airstrike on November 9, 2023, while held in Gaza, and later taken to Shifa, where she was murdered.
Hagari said that the pathology report “states Noa was injured by the strike, but not in a life-threatening manner,” contrary to the false Hamas claim that she was killed in a strike. “According to intelligence information, Noa was taken inside the walls of Shifa Hospital, where she was murdered by a Hamas terrorist.”
On November 14, the army declared her dead, and on November 16, they announced that they had recovered her body and brought it back to Israel. She was laid to rest in Modiin on November 17.
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