A Hamas terrorist who abducted four Israeli hostages during one of the most brutal incidents of the October 7, 2023, onslaught was killed in a Monday airstrike, the military announced Tuesday, sparking celebrations from one of his former captives.

According to the IDF, Youssef Ayesh Awad Ramadan, a deputy commander of a Nukhba Force cell, invaded Israel on October 7 and took part in the abduction of Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Alon Ohel, Eliya Cohen and Or Levy from a roadside bomb shelter near the Gaza border community of Re’im.

The strike targeting Ramadan on Monday was to “remove a threat” to troops, the statement said.

The IDF added that during the war and recently, Ramadan advanced attacks on Israeli troops and citizens, “and therefore posed an immediate threat to our forces operating in the Gaza Strip.”

In April, the IDF announced that another Hamas terrorist who abducted those four hostages from Re’im was also killed, alongside several other Hamas operatives.

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Ohel, Cohen, and Levy were released from Hamas captivity in hostage-ceasefire deals with the terror group in 2025, while Goldberg-Polin was murdered in captivity, and his body was recovered by the IDF in August 2024.

Reacting to the announcement, Ohel thanked the IDF for their “incredible work” in killing his former captor, adding “Until the last terrorist.”

“Until the last terrorist”: Freed hostage Alon Ahel, one of the four who were kidnapped by Ramzan, celebrates his elimination. https://t.co/u1NgUiMhgV pic.twitter.com/MmjSYeaSEc

— Amit Segal (@AmitSegal) June 2, 2026

People escaping from the Supernova Festival, where terrorists had gunned down hundreds of party-goers, had run into the shelter to hide, but soon came under attack again as the terrorists continued to maraud through the area.

The terrorists fired into the shelter and threw in multiple grenades. A young off-duty soldier Aner Shapiro defended civilians huddled inside, lobbing the grenades back out, one after the other. He did so seven times, before the eighth grenade mortally wounded him.

After Shapiro was injured, terrorists entered the shelter and killed some of those inside, injured others and took some hostage. Polin-Goldberg lost an arm in the attack and Ohel was wounded in the eye.


Jon Polin (L) and Rachel Goldberg, parents of Hersh Goldberg Polin who is being held hostage by Hamas, speak on the third day of the Democratic National Convention (DNC) at the United Center in Chicago, Illinois, on August 21, 2024. (Saul Loeb/AFP)

Those who survived did so by hiding under the bodies of the dead for hours until rescuers arrived at their location.

Israel has reportedly compiled a list of all Palestinians who took part in the October 7 invasion, and is aiming to kill or arrest each one. According to the Wall Street Journal, the initiative began immediately after the attacks, and “hundreds” have since been crossed off the list, from high-level terror commanders to civilians who crossed the border and joined the attacks.

Gaza strikes continue

Earlier Tuesday, the IDF said it struck and killed five terror operatives in the Gaza Strip in recent days, “to remove an immediate threat” to troops.

The operatives had planned attacks on forces stationed in Gaza “in the immediate timeframe,” the military said.

They were identified by the IDF as Salem Qariqa, a member of Hamas’s Shejaiya Battalion who worked to build explosives and advanced sniper attacks on troops; Saeed Shamali, a Nukhba Force team commander; Ahmad Khallas, a sniper platoon commander in the Palestinian Islamic Jihad; and two more Hamas commanders who planted bombs targeting Israeli troops.

במטרה להסיר איום מיידי: צה”ל חיסל ברצועת עזה חמישה מחבלים שקידמו מתווי טרור נגד כוחות צה”ל בימים האחרונים

כוחות אוגדה 252 בפיקוד הדרום חיסלו בימים האחרונים חמישה מחבלים מארגוני הטרור ברצועת עזה, שקידמו מתווי טרור נגד כוחותינו בטווח הזמן המיידי.

בין המחבלים שחוסלו:
* סאלם פאיז… pic.twitter.com/SNBXTHEBgX

— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) June 2, 2026

Meanwhile, Israeli fire killed at least four Palestinians in separate incidents across the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, Gaza health officials said.

Medics said at least one person was killed and four were wounded when an Israeli airstrike hit a vehicle east of Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip. The blast left the vehicle a mangled skeleton.

Another strike earlier in the day killed one person and wounded another in the nearby Zawayda town, they added. Later on Tuesday, an airstrike killed one person at a tent encampment in Khan Younis, in the south of the enclave.

The Israeli military did not immediately comment on those incidents.

Israeli gunfire also killed one man in northwest Khan Younis, medics said, taking Tuesday’s death toll to at least four.

The IDF said in a statement they had fired towards two people approaching the Israeli-controlled yellow line.

Israel foils tobacco smuggling attempt


Tobacco pouches concealed inside a humanitarian aid shipment bound for Gaza, uncovered during a security inspection at the Tarqumiya Crossing, June 2, 2026. (COGAT)

Elsewhere in the Strip, security forces thwarted an attempt to smuggle hundreds of tobacco pouches into the Gaza Strip today after finding the packages concealed inside a shipment of wheelchairs, the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) said Tuesday.

Inspectors from the Defense Ministry’s Land Crossings Authority, working alongside COGAT, discovered the hidden tobacco during a security inspection of aid destined for Gaza at the Tarqumiya Crossing in the West Bank.

COGAT chief Maj. Gen. Yoram Halevi ordered an investigation into the incident, the agency said.

COGAT described the alleged smuggling attempt as a “cynical exploitation” of a humanitarian medical aid shipment, and says organizations coordinating aid deliveries bear responsibility for the contents of their cargo.

“While Israel allows and facilitates the entry of humanitarian aid and medical equipment, Hamas and other actors continue to exploit every opportunity, including medical shipments, for smuggling and military buildup,” Halevi said in a statement.

“We will therefore continue to strengthen our monitoring mechanisms, conduct thorough inspections of every truck, and act with determination and zero tolerance against anyone who attempts to exploit the humanitarian assistance mechanism for the benefit of terrorist organizations,” he added.

Israel has banned the entry of cigarettes and other tobacco products into Gaza during the war, with officials saying that such products, when smuggled illegally, are sold for high prices on the black market and heavily taxed by Hamas.