The IDF eliminated terrorist Abd al-Rahim Abd al-Hay Youssef Kardi, deputy commander of a Hamas military wing cell who was also working as a doctor at Shifa Hospital in Gaza while holding Romi Gonen and Noa Marciano captive, the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit said. Gonen responded Friday evening: “This terrorist is in hell today and I am alive.”
Alongside a photo of Kardi, Gonen wrote: “Look at him. This is the first terrorist who destroyed my innocence, dirtied my soul. After four days in Gaza, he couldn’t control himself and entered the shower after me. Look at him. This terrorist is in hell today and I am alive. His death will not erase anything, but without a doubt justice was done with him. Until the last one of them!”
Adi Marciano, Noa’s mother, shared: “Every such announcement brings us back again to the moment when our lives stopped. It reminds us how great the cruelty toward Noa was and how many people chose to take part in it. Nothing will bring Noa back to us. No action can return her smile, her laughter or the life that was taken from her. The pain and longing will stay with us for the rest of our lives.”
At the same time, she added: “We thank the security forces and IDF soldiers who are acting with determination and courage to bring justice and protect the citizens of Israel. Knowing that someone who took part in the horrors can no longer harm others does not ease our pain, but it does provide a feeling that justice was served.”
Noa Marciano
“We ask everyone to remember Noa. Not only through the terrible moments when she was taken from us, but through the beautiful life she lived, through who she was — a young woman full of love, light, joy and dreams. The love she spread and the light she left in the hearts of everyone who knew her. No one will ever be able to take that light away. Remember Noa’s smile and the phrase she used to say, which has since become a phrase that accompanies us: ‘Smile as if there is no tomorrow.’ A phrase that, when it came from her, expressed joy for life, and today has taken on another meaning.”
The IDF and Shin Bet eliminated Kardi on Thursday. According to the IDF, he was a deputy commander of a Hamas cell that held Gonen captive and held Cpl. Marciano after her murder.
“Kardi infiltrated Israeli territory during the Oct. 7 massacre. At the beginning of the war, Kardi was involved in holding hostage Romi Gonen in the Gaza Brigade area and at Shifa Hospital, and Cpl. Noa Marciano, after her murder, in the Gaza City Brigade area until her body was recovered by the IDF,” the statement said.