UNRWA confirms Hamas Nukhba force commander killed in IDF strike was a staff member
IDF says it killed Hamas UNRWA worker who led massacre at Re’im shelter. 16 were murdered at concrete shelter and 4 kidnapped, including Hersh Goldberg-Polin
The Times of Israel
Oct 24, 2024
A public bomb shelter where Israelis were murdered in the October 7 massacre, on a road near the Israeli-Gaza border,
An Israeli airstrike in the Gaza Strip Wednesday killed a Hamas Nukhba Force commander who led the massacre and kidnapping of Israelis from a roadside bomb shelter near Kibbutz Re’im on October 7, the army and Shin Bet announced Thursday.
According to the military, Muhammad Abu Attawi, who served as a Nukha commander in Hamas’s Bureij Battalion, was also employed by the UN Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA since July 2022.
During the October 7 onslaught, Attawi commanded the attack on a bomb shelter near Re’im where partygoers from the Nova festival had fled to.
The shelter was one of several that became infamous in the aftermath of the attack, having become deathtraps for many Israelis who huddled there amid the onslaught.
Nearly 30 were in the Re’im shelter when Hamas terrorists stormed it, hurling in grenades and firing on those inside (see dashboard video here). Sixteen were murdered, four were kidnapped — including Hersh Goldberg-Polin, who was executed many months later in Gaza — and seven survived.
The shelter was one of several that became infamous in the aftermath of the attack, having become deathtraps for many Israelis who huddled there amid the onslaught.
Nearly 30 were in the Re’im shelter when Hamas terrorists stormed it, hurling in grenades and firing on those inside (see dashboard video here). Sixteen were murdered, four were kidnapped — including Hersh Goldberg-Polin, who was executed many months later in Gaza — and seven survived.
Hamas terrorist Muhammad Abu Attawi during the attack on a bomb shelter near Kibbutz Re’im on October 7, 2023.
Attawi was also involved in attacks on troops during the war in Gaza, the IDF said.
The military said COGAT representatives had “demanded from senior officials in the international community and the UN clarifications and an urgent inquiry into the participation of UNRWA employees in the October 7 massacre and terrorist activity against Israel.”
Israel has said multiple UNRWA employees were terrorists who took part in the attacks, and has alleged that many hundreds have ties to terror groups.
A public bomb shelter where Israelis were murdered in the October 7 massacre, on a road near the Israeli-Gaza border,
The IDF and Shin Bet said that Attawi, a Hamas Nukhba Force commander who led the killing and kidnapping of Israelis from a roadside bomb shelter near Kibbutz Re’im on October 7, had been employed by UNRWA since July 2022.
UNRWA confirmed that Muhammad Abu Attawi was a staffer and killed on Wednesday, after Israel announced it had targeted him in a strike.
According to UNRWA, Attawi’s name was included in a letter the Palestinian refugee agency received from Israel in July that included a list of 100 staff members who were also allegedly members of armed groups, including Hamas.
“The UNRWA commissioner general responded to that letter immediately stating that any allegation is taken seriously. He urged (the government of Israel) to cooperate with the agency by providing more information so he could take action. To date, UNRWA has not received any response to that letter,” says Juliette Touma, UNRWA’s director of communications.
IDF Spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari says Israel “has requested urgent clarifications from senior UN officials and an urgent investigation into the involvement of UNRWA employees in the October 7 massacre.”
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