IDF says it killed Hamas operative tied to October 7 abduction in Nuseirat strike
The Israeli military says it has killed Saher Tzakar, describing him as a Hamas member who infiltrated Israel on 7 October and helped abduct Noa Argamani, in an airstrike on Jules Street in the western Nuseirat refugee camp. The strike underscores how the war in Gaza remains bound up with the unresolved trauma of the initial attacks and kidnappings.
Israel is still hunting the men it blames for the 7 October attack, and that hunt continues to play out in densely populated corners of Gaza.
On 26 September, the Israel Defense Forces said they had "eliminated" Saher Tzakar in an airstrike on Jules Street in the western part of the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza. The IDF identified him as a terrorist who infiltrated Israeli territory on 7 October and took part in the abduction of Israeli citizen Noa Argamani during the Hamas-led assault.
The military did not immediately release imagery or additional operational details of the strike in the report, and there was no independent confirmation of Tzakar’s death or his role from other sources in the available material. His name, though, has been associated in Israeli coverage with the kidnapping that made Argamani one of the most widely recognized faces among the hostages taken to Gaza.
For residents of Nuseirat, another strike on a crowded camp street is part of a grinding reality in which Israeli efforts to target Hamas and other militants bring explosions into the same lanes where families live, shop, and find water. The report did not specify whether anyone other than Tzakar was killed or wounded in the attack. Gaza’s health authorities, who normally provide casualty figures, were not cited in this particular feed.
Operationally, the IDF has framed such strikes as part of a campaign against what it views as a network of Hamas operatives still involved in holding hostages, planning rocket fire, or organizing attacks in the West Bank and along the border. Removing individuals it identifies as directly linked to the October 7 raids serves both immediate intelligence goals and a broader narrative that those responsible will eventually be tracked down.
Strategically, each announcement of a targeted killing tied to the initial abductions reverberates beyond the battlefield. For Israeli families of hostages and victims, it can offer a degree of retribution, but it also risks hardening Hamas’ calculations about the value of the captives it still holds. For international mediators, strikes in the heart of refugee districts complicate efforts to sustain ceasefire talks or hostage-release negotiations, as they deepen Palestinian anger and feed wider criticism over the civilian toll.
Gaza has long blurred the line between civilian and militant spaces, not by choice of its residents but by the way armed groups embed in camps and by the density of the enclave. An airstrike aimed at one man on a street like Jules Street inevitably sends a message to everyone else living there about how exposed they are to decisions taken far beyond their neighborhood.
The next developments to watch will be responses on both sides: whether Hamas or local sources acknowledge Tzakar’s death or deny the Israeli account; whether the IDF links the strike to any new intelligence on hostages; and whether the attack triggers follow-on strikes or rocket fire that shift the tempo of fighting in central Gaza. Updates from humanitarian organizations on conditions in Nuseirat after the bombing will also be key to understanding the human cost of Israel’s pursuit of named targets there.
Sources
- OSINT