The IDF said it killed an Islamic Jihad terrorist who infiltrated the Nova music festival during the Oct. 7 massacre and commanded the abduction of Inbar Haiman, a 27-year-old Israeli artist and visual communications student who was later murdered in Gaza.
Taher Ahmad Salem Abd al-Wahed was killed Friday in an Israeli strike in the central Gaza Strip directed by the Shin Bet, according to the military. The IDF said he had entered the Nova festival during the Hamas-led assault and played a commanding role in Haiman’s kidnapping.
Haiman, from Haifa, was working as a volunteer at the festival when terrorists attacked. She initially escaped and hid before being captured and taken into Gaza. Israel later determined that she had been murdered in captivity. Her remains were returned to Israel in October 2025 and laid to rest.
“We have known since last night. I did not sleep all night,” Haiman’s aunt, Hanna Cohen, said after the IDF announcement. “It is extremely difficult and overwhelming. It takes us back. Justice is being done slowly, but it is being done. There is a small measure of comfort in that, but no one will bring Inbar back. Inbar is no longer here.”
Cohen said seeing Abd al-Wahed’s face made her think of what her niece endured when she encountered her abductors. “It is horrifying,” she said. “Every time, it reopens the wound. Not that we are ever outside this reality. We live this murder every day.”
(Photo: IDF)
“One of the monsters who murdered Inbar has been eliminated,” she added. “Anyone who touched a hair on Inbar’s head, or harmed any of those murdered on Oct. 7, deserves death.”
In a separate Shin Bet-directed strike in central Gaza, the IDF said it killed Salah Subhi Salah Qatrawi, another Islamic Jihad terrorist. According to the military, Qatrawi had spent the war attempting to organize attacks against IDF troops near Gaza Humanitarian Foundation aid distribution centers in the southern Gaza Strip.
The IDF accused him of exploiting humanitarian activity while placing Gaza residents at risk. It said both men had recently been involved in efforts to advance imminent attacks against Israeli troops and civilians.
IDF forces under Southern Command remain deployed in the area under the existing agreement and will continue operating against immediate threats, the military said.