Israel took out a terrorist during an airstrike earlier this month who was involved in the abduction of an Israeli man on Oct. 7, 2023, authorities said Tuesday. 

The strike, which occurred in Gaza on Aug. 10, killed Jihad Kamal Salem Najjar, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and Shin Bet, Israel’s internal security agency, announced. 

“A small part of my closure happened today. Thank you to the IDF, the Shin Bet, and everyone who took part in the elimination of one of the terrorists who kidnapped me on October 7,” Yarden Bibas said in a statement provided by the Hostages and Missing Families Forum. “Thanks to you, he will not be able to harm anyone else.

Jihad Kamal Salem Najjar is seen pictured alongside hostages.  (Israeli Defense Forces)

Hamas often uses hostage videos as part of what the IDF calls “psychological terror.”

Upon his release, Bibas’ family said that “a quarter of our heart has returned to us after 15 long months. … Yarden has returned home, but the home remains incomplete.”

In the aftermath of Hamas’ attack, the Bibas family became a symbol of the terror group’s cruelty. Video footage of Shiri Bibas holding her two red-headed children in her arms went viral across the globe. 

Pictures of the Bibas family and Oded Lifshitz, 84, who were kidnapped during the deadly Oct. 7, 2023 attack by Hamas and then killed, are displayed next to candles in the dining room in Kibbutz Nir Oz, after their bodies were handed over to Israel under the terms of a ceasefire between Hamas and Israel, on the day of Lifshitz’s funeral, in Kibbutz Nir Oz, Israel Feb. 25, 2025.  (Reuters/Amir Cohen)

In April, Israel said it had killed Mohammed Hassan Mohammed Awad, a senior commander in the Palestinian Mujahideen terrorist organization and who helped lead “several” attacks on the Nir Oz kibbutz.