IDF Kills Nukhba Force Deputy Commander Youssef Ramadan — Linked to Oct 7 Re'im Shelter Hostage Abductions — and Four Other Hamas/PIJ Operatives

The IDF announced on June 2, 2026 that it had killed five Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad operatives in recent strikes across Gaza. The most significant target was Youssef Ayesh Awad Ramadan, a Nukhba Force deputy commander who personally participated in the October 7, 2023 hostage abductions at the Re'im bomb shelter — seizing Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Alon Ohel, Eliya Cohen, and Or Levy. The other operatives killed included Salem Qariqa (Hamas Shejaiya Battalion, explosives and sniper role), Saeed Shamali (Nukhba Force team commander), and Ahmad Khallas (Palestinian Islamic Jihad sniper platoon commander), along with two additional unnamed Hamas bomb-planting commanders. The IDF stated all five were planning imminent attacks on Israeli forces. The eliminations continue Israel's sustained attrition campaign against Hamas's Nukhba commando force, which led the October 7 ground assault, and against the broader Hamas command structure — in which two successive Qassam Brigades chiefs were killed on May 15 and May 26, 2026.