Hamas terrorist Muhammad Abu Aseed, who was filmed kidnapping Israeli surveillance soldier Naama Levy on October 7, 2023, was eliminated in a drone strike some four months ago, the Israel Defense Forces said Thursday.
News of Abu Aseed’s targeting was not permitted for publication until the return of all seven surveillance soldiers kidnapped by the terror group during the October 7 onslaught.
Video footage of the abduction showed Aseed dragging a bound and bleeding Levy by her hair from the back of a jeep in Gaza minutes after she was taken from Israel, waving a gun as he howled in celebration before pulling her back into the vehicle.
The image of Levy being pushed into a jeep was one of the most horrific images from October 7, 2023, when the Palestinian terror group Hamas led thousands of terrorists to invade Israel, killing some 1,200 people and abducting 251 to Gaza.
In December 2023, her mother published a heartfelt plea for her daughter’s release, referencing the infamous video.
“You have seen the video of my daughter Naama Levy,” Ayelet Levy Shachar wrote on the Free Press website. “Everyone has. You have seen her dragged by her long brown hair from the back of a Jeep at gunpoint, somewhere in Gaza, her gray sweatpants covered in blood.
“You may have perhaps noticed that her ankles are cut, that she’s barefoot and limping. She is seriously injured. She is frightened. And I, her mother, am helpless in these moments of horror.”
Levy was released by Hamas last week, along with Karina Ariev, Daniella Gilboa, and Liri Albag. Agam Berger was released Thursday morning as well, as part of a complex, three-phase ceasefire deal that halted 15 months of fighting as Israel responded to the Hamas attack.
Levy, Albag, Ariev, and Gilboa, gathered to watch a live video of Berger being set free.
Berger was slated to be brought to the same hospital where they are being treated, to be reunited after they were separated a week ago.
One of the abducted surveillance soldiers, Ori Megidish, was rescued alive in October 2023, and the body of a second one, Noa Marciano, was recovered after she was murdered in captivity in November 2023.
In her first message to the public since her release, Levy said Wednesday “After 477 days, I’m at home at last.”
“I am safe and protected, surrounded by family and friends, and feeling better by the day,” she wrote on Instagram.
Speaking about her time in captivity, Levy said that for the first 50 days after being kidnapped by Palestinian terrorists on October 7, 2023, she was mostly kept alone.
“After that, I stayed with my friends” — four fellow IDF lookout soldiers abducted with her, three of whom were released with her, as well as other female hostages — “who gave me strength and hope,” she added. “We gave strength to each other until the release day and also after it.”