IDF kills Hamas terrorist it says worked for UNRWA, led charge on Reim bomb shelter massacre

The Israeli Defense Forces have 'eliminated' a Hamas commander not only involved in the horrific events of Oct. 7, 2023, but discovered to have been in the employ of the UN for over two years.

IDF kills Hamas terrorist it says worked for UNRWA, led charge on Reim bomb shelter massacre

In addition to being involved in the October 7 attacks, which included the attack on the Reim bomb shelter where American citizen Hersh Goldberg-Polin was kidnapped, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) confirmed Thursday that they had "eliminated" a Hamas commander who they said "simultaneously" worked for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA).

During a coordinated operation by the Israeli Defense group and the Israeli Security Agency on Wednesday, the Israeli Air Force killed Mohammad Abu Itiwi, a commander in Hamas' special Nukhba group.

Fox News Digital's request for comment was not immediately answered by the contentious UN organization.

According to images supplied by the IDF, Abu Itiwi had been in the employ of the UNRWA since July 2022, and he was also photographed at the Reim bomb shelter near the Tribe of Nova music festival, where attendees ran for cover as Hamas terrorists attacked. 

The Reim bomb shelter has become a symbol of the Oct. 7th massacre and was where Goldberg-Polin, his best friend Aner Shapira, and 25 others attempted to hide from Hamas attackers. 

Abu Itiwi allegedly led the attack on the shelter, according to the IDF, and upon finding dozens hidden in the shelter on Route 232 in southern Israel, Hamas terrorists repeatedly pelted them with grenades. 

Accounts of what happened next depict Shapira, 22 years old and an IDF soldier, attempting to calm the already 20-or-so people hiding in the shelter and promised to protect them.

"I’ll catch the grenades and throw them back – and if I miss any, you throw them back," one account of the horrific event described for the Times of Israel.

Shapira managed to throw seven of the grenades back out before he was killed. 

During the attack on the shelter, Goldberg-Polin's arm was blown off from the elbow down. He was able to tie himself a tourniquet before he and others from the shelter were abducted by Hamas and taken into Gaza, where he was killed by Hamas terrorists 11 months later. 

Twenty-seven people were in that shelter, 16 were killed, four were kidnapped, and seven survived.

Abu Itiwi reportedly directed and carried out numerous attacks on IDF troops operating in the Gaza Strip.

Representatives from Israel’s Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories – an agency under the Israeli Ministry of Defense – reached out to senior officials in the United Nations and the international community to request an urgent investigation into the involvement of UNRWA employees in the Oct. 7th Massacre.

The U.N. agency has previously been slapped with similar allegations involving ties to Hamas, though it has flatly rejected many of the claims. 

In recent months, the U.N. has fired at least 12 staffers after finding they potentially had been involved in the Oct. 7 attacks."