Israel has eliminated approximately 4,000 of the 6,000 terrorists who crossed into the country during the Oct. 7 massacre, leaving roughly 2,000 still alive, according to new figures presented by IDF Military Intelligence chief Maj. Gen. Shlomi Binder. “There are 2,000 remaining, and we will get to every last one of them,” Binder told ministers during a Security Cabinet meeting Sunday night.
5+The figures offer one of the clearest indications yet of the scale of Israel’s continuing effort to track down those who took part in the Hamas-led invasion of southern Israel three years ago. Defense Minister Israel Katz said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and he have instructed the IDF and Israel’s security services to pursue every remaining perpetrator — regardless of rank. “Six thousand terrorists crossed the border into Israel on October 7 and carried out the atrocities. Of them, 4,000 have been killed so far, leaving another 2,000,” Katz said.
5+The defense minister said Israel’s mission extends from the senior Hamas officials who planned the massacre to the individual terrorists who participated on the ground. “We will reach them all, without limitation and under any circumstances, from the senior ranks to the junior ranks,” Katz said. “This is the command of the murdered and the fallen, and this is our duty as a people and a state — and we will fulfill it.”
5+Behind that effort is an extensive IDF and Shin Bet intelligence operation that has spent years identifying the thousands of terrorists who took part in the massacre, kidnappings and subsequent captivity of Israeli hostages. A dedicated joint IDF-Shin Bet unit known as Nili has compiled thousands of names and used enormous quantities of photographic and video evidence to identify individual perpetrators — including footage the terrorists themselves recorded on GoPro-style cameras as they invaded Israeli communities on Oct. 7. Facial-recognition technology, artificial intelligence, human intelligence and information obtained during interrogations have all been used to identify and locate suspects.
5+The operation does not focus only on those who physically crossed into Israel. Israeli officials have said its targets also include Hamas leaders involved in planning the massacre, as well as individuals involved in holding or abusing Israeli hostages in Gaza. The effort has repeatedly allowed Israel to identify terrorists years after they were filmed taking part in the attack and then locate them for targeted elimination.
The campaign remains active. On Sunday, the IDF announced the elimination of Saqr Nabil Musa Qaisi, a Hamas Nukhba terrorist who participated in the Oct. 7 invasion and also served as director of the Turkish organization Deniz Feneri, which presents itself as a humanitarian aid organization but which Israel says maintained ties with senior Hamas figures.
5+Days earlier, Israel eliminated Ibrahim Mustafa Suleiman Abu Oweimer, a Hamas Nukhba platoon commander who also infiltrated Israel during the massacre. Earlier this month, the IDF announced that it had eliminated Muhammad Jamal Mahmoud Abu al-Shaar, a Hamas cell commander who invaded Kibbutz Be’eri on Oct. 7 and participated in the kidnapping of six Israelis into Gaza. The IDF and Shin Bet have previously revealed the targeted elimination of terrorists responsible for abducting Israelis from the Nova music festival, including those involved in the kidnappings of Noa Argamani, Avinatan Or and Eitan Mor.
5+The campaign has continued three years after Hamas terrorists poured through the Gaza border on the morning of Oct. 7, 2023, invading Israeli communities, military bases and the Nova music festival. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reiterated the commitment Tuesday on the eve of the massacre’s third anniversary. “Over the past three years, we have eliminated 4,000 of those 6,000 monsters,” Netanyahu said. “None of them has immunity. We will reach them all, and Hamas rule in Gaza will be eliminated.”