IDF eliminates Hamas operative involved in Oct. 7 abduction of Capt. Daniel Perez, held of other hostages
The strike removes a senior Hamas figure tied to two of the war's defining tragedies: the abduction of an IDF officer and the captivity of hostages later killed in a mistaken IDF shooting
The IDF and Israel Security Agency (ISA) announced Friday that they eliminated Muhammad Na'im Jandiya, head of military security in Hamas' Shuja'iyya Battalion, in a strike two days earlier in northern Gaza. During the October 7 massacre, Jandiya commanded a Nukhba terrorist cell that infiltrated Kibbutz Nahal Oz and took part in the abduction of Capt. Daniel Perez.
He was also responsible for holding hostages Yotam Haim, Samer Talalka, and Alon Shamriz in an underground tunnel in the Shuja'iyya Battalion.
The IDF said Jandiya had recently advanced attacks against troops operating in Gaza and was among the masked Hamas operatives who appeared at hostage release ceremonies during the war.
Haim, Shamriz, and Talalka were mistakenly shot and killed by IDF troops in December 2023 after escaping Hamas captivity in Shejaiya while waving a white flag. It was an incident the army attributed to rules-of-engagement failures amid combat conditions.
Two years after that incident, families of Haim and Shamriz publicly objected to the planned promotion of the battalion commander on scene, with Shamriz's brother accusing him of failing "three times in fifteen minutes" and never apologizing; the IDF has called him a "principled, professional, and honest commander."