October 7 Terrorist Caught on Camera Swigging from Coke Bottle After Murdering Israeli Father Eliminated in IDF Strike

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A Hamas terrorist who achieved notoriety when he was filmed casually swigging from a bottle of Coca-Cola after murdering an Israeli father during the October 7 atrocities has been eliminated, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) confirmed on September 3.

Ahmed Fawzi Nasser Muhammad Wadiyya was one of the Hamas paragliders who participated in the attack on the Israeli community of Netiv Ha’asara, during which 22 of the community’s 900 residents were massacred. A member of the Hamas Daraj-Tuffah Battalion, which is located in Gaza City, Wadiyya was eliminated in an IDF air strike while hiding near the al-Ahli hospital. Seven other Hamas terrorists were also killed in the strike, the IDF said.

Among those murdered by Wadiyya and his cohorts was Gil Taasa, who was killed by a grenade detonated by Wadiyya inside a shelter where the 46-year-old Israeli was hiding with his two young sons, Koren, 12, and Shay, 8. CCTV footage of the aftermath showed the two boys, both wounded and covered in blood, sobbing uncontrollably inside the family home as Wadiyya sauntered into the kitchen, opened the refrigerator, and helped himself to a bottle of Coca-Cola. The footage was part of a montage of horrifying images of the massacre assembled by the IDF and shown to select audiences of journalists and diplomats in the weeks that followed.

Taasa’s elder son, Or, was also killed on October 7 in a separate location. Or, 17, had gone fishing with some friends on Zikim beach where he was murdered by the Hamas infiltrators. Father and son were buried alongside each other on October 18.

Expert Analysis

“Even before the blood of the October 7 victims had dried, Israel vowed to avenge them to the last Hamas murderer. Wadiyya was clearly one on a long list of names, assembled with great care and pursued with precision and professionalism.” — Mark Dubowitz, FDD CEO

“Americans by now have a clear sense of Hamas’s physical brutality on October 7 but less so the mental depravity that accompanied the massacres. The video of Wadiyya clearly communicated both. It should be something every American watches to understand what Israel is facing.” — Richard Goldberg, FDD Senior Advisor

Son Recalls Harrowing October 7 Ordeal

In an interview with Israel’s Kan broadcaster after the October 7 massacre, Koren Taasa recalled that on their way to the shelter, his father had grabbed his pistol, shooting at the terrorists until his ammunition ran out. “There were huge explosions and dad and I and Shay heard terrorists on the road behind us, and he told us to be quiet and not talk,” Koren said. Once in the shelter, Taasa sacrificed himself to save his sons after Wadiyya hurled a grenade inside. “There’s no way he wasn’t afraid, but he decided to save us and he jumped on the grenade … there was an explosion, I saw smoke, suddenly we were covered in blood,” Koren said. After Wadiyya left their home, the two boys ran to their mother’s house nearby where they hid in the safe room for several hours before being evacuated. Shay Taasa subsequently lost his sight in one eye as a result of the shrapnel injuries he sustained.

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