Israel kills October 7 Hamas terrorist who killed hero Briton who bravely threw back seven terrorist grenades while defending his friends before being killed on the eighth

The IDF killed the Hamas commander responsible for killing a British-Israeli citizen who died while defending partygoers at the Nova Festival on October 7 by throwing seven Hamas grenades back at the terrorists.

The army said last week that Mohamed Abu Itiwi, commander of the Nukhba force, Hamas’s elite military unit, was killed in central Gaza.

Itiwi is believed to have been responsible for directing the Nova Festival massacre, along with the subsequent kidnapping of hundreds of young partygoers on October 7 from the Re’im Party.

He was seen on dashcam footage throwing 22-year-old Aner Shapira, whose mother is from Oxford, and several terrified attendees into a small concrete building, into which he threw several grenades.

But Shapira, who was serving in an elite unit of the IDF’s Nahal Brigade at the time of his death, was seen catching the grenades and throwing them back at the Hamas fighters.

He managed to do this seven times before the eight grenades tragically killed him.

Chilling footage captured by a dashcam in a car parked outside the shelter appears to confirm this, with the video recorded just after 8am showing several armed terrorists swimming into the shelter and firing shots through the entrance.

The terrified people in the bunker are not visible in the footage, which was shared by the First South First Responders group via the messaging app Telegram.

The clip begins with the group of terrorists standing around the entrance, while a shirtless man – who has been captured – sits on the ground.

Two cars – one of which is from where the video was shot – are parked outside.

One of the terrorists throws the first grenade through the door, prompting a person inside to take a break across the road. As he runs away, the Hamas gunman fires shots at him. Although it cannot be seen in the footage, it is believed he was shot.

The shooters are then seen trying to attack the bunker. Some shoot through the door, while someone throws grenades.

However, every time he does, the explosives are sent right back at him, as Shapira throws them back out the door, causing confusion and panic.

The terrorist then appears to call for reinforcements, and other Hamas gunmen come running to the entrance of the shelter. They also shoot through the door and throw grenades into the shelter.

The same grenades are thrown back from the bunker entrance, causing the terrorists to scatter before the explosives detonate.

In total, the terrorists can be seen in the video throwing eight explosives into the bunker during the four-minute video. Seven grenades are seen being thrown back by Shapira, until tragically the eight does not return.

At the end of the video, a huge explosion erupts from the doorway, followed by smoke and dust. The grenade exploded in Shapira’s hands.

“Shapira ultimately died from the injuries he sustained while stopping the terrorists while fighting to save the lives of his fellow partygoers,” South First Responders wrote in posting the video.

“Some of those he protected survived the attack on the shelter to tell his heroic story.”

Shapira’s mother told Israel’s Kan News that her son stood at the entrance to the shelter and threw the grenades back out as they were thrown in one by one.

“He stood at the entrance and threw the grenades outside and he managed to save so many people,” she told the outlet.

Shapira’s grandmother Yamima Ben-Menahem said at the time that he “took leadership” during the crisis and tried to calm everyone else down.

He then placed himself in the line of fire as Hamas gunmen approached, blocking access to the shelter and throwing back grenades launched by the terrorists.

He has been praised by a survivor of the attack as the “guardian angel” who “saved our lives and deserves a medal of honor.”

After seeking shelter with the group, Mr Shapira reportedly attempted to calm the terrified festival goers.

“He said the army was only half an hour away and that he was sure everything would be fine,” Ms Ben-Menahem told the broadcaster.

When armed Hamas terrorists approached the hideout, he used his body as a barrier between the gunmen and the group.

“When they (Hamas) started throwing grenades into the shelter, he said, ‘I’m going to throw them back and if I miss one, you will do the rest of the work,’” she said, adding, “He was standing there and threw back one grenade after another’.

After his death, Hamas allegedly entered the shelter and took five or six hostages before shooting the rest of the group, Ms. Ben-Menahem claims.

It reportedly took several hours for help to arrive and only “those who were not seriously injured” survived.

After the incident, Ms. Ben-Menahem said some survivors had contacted their families to say Mr. Shapira “saved our lives.”

Another posted a tribute on Facebook, writing: ‘Aner Shapira… saved our lives and he deserves a medal of honor for being an angel who watched over us.’

Hamas launched its deadly attack on Israel from Gaza on October 7, with the Nova music festival near Kibbutz Re’im being one of their first targets.

Other terrifying images from the festival showed the terrorists flying into Israel from Gaza on hand gliders and driving into other vehicles before opening fire, killing some 1,200 people – mostly civilians – and kidnapping 250 others.

Since then, Gaza has been embroiled in war as a result of Israel’s counter-invasion.

Since then, the death toll from the more than year-long war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza has passed 43,000, Palestinian officials reported this week, without distinguishing between civilians and fighters.