A Hamas Nukhba Force member who participated in the October 7, 2023 invasion was captured by the IDF earlier this week at the Kerem Shalom crossing, according to security sources. The terrorist had requested a permit to collect private-sector goods from the Gaza Strip and was granted one by the Shin Bet, but was apprehended upon arrival at the crossing on Wednesday and transferred for questioning.
Additional details emerged Friday afternoon regarding the arrest of a Hamas Nukhba Force member who participated in the October 7, 2023, massacre. According to security sources cited by The Zioneer, the terrorist was captured by the IDF earlier this week at the Gazan side of the Kerem Shalom crossing, after receiving a permit from the Shin Bet to collect private-sector goods from the Gaza Strip. Upon his arrival at the crossing on Wednesday, troops apprehended him and transferred him for questioning. The permit revelation marks a significant twist in the thread: the terrorist had been granted access by Israel's own security agency before being intercepted.
Reports first emerged at 10:30 Jerusalem on Friday (Amit Segal, N12) that a Nukhba terrorist from the Oct. 7 attack had been arrested while driving an aid truck in Rafah en route to Kerem Shalom. Subsequent reports at 10:36 and 10:43, carried by The Zioneer, refined the details: the truck was carrying private-sector aid arranged by a merchant, and the suspect was identified as a Nukhba operative. The latest report adds the crucial detail that the Shin Bet had issued a permit for the goods collection, specifying the arrest date as Wednesday and clarifying the timeline. The source of the information has remained consistent — security sources cited by Israeli media — but the depth of detail has grown from a single-channel report to multi-source corroboration.
The arrest is part of a broader Israeli effort to track down those who took part in the Oct. 7 invasion. In recent months, the IDF and Shin Bet have eliminated key operatives, including a Nukhba commander who led the Kisufim infiltration (The Zioneer, June 7) and an Islamic Jihad fighter involved in abductions (The Zioneer, June 29). The Kerem Shalom crossing has been a recurring focus of security activity: on June 24, the IDF detained a suspect near the crossing after an alert, with no infiltration into Israel (The Zioneer, June 24).
The terrorist's name has not been released. The investigation is ongoing, and it remains unclear how the Shin Bet's permit process intersected with the security forces' identification of the suspect.
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