By At least 3,000 Hamas fighters participated in October 7 attack on Israel
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) established that at least 3,000 militants of the radical Palestinian movement Hamas took part in the October 7 attack, The Times of Israel said.
According to the IDF’s assessment, which is based on information obtained during interrogations of captured radicals, some 3,000 Hamas fighters infiltrated Israeli territory on the morning of October 7, significantly exceeding initial estimates. The military had previously estimated that between 1,500 and 2,000 militants took part in the attack, which killed some 1,400 people, mostly civilians in their homes and participants in a music festival. The terrorists also took at least 245 hostages. The Israel Defense Forces said its forces had killed about 1,000 militants inside Israel and captured about 200 in the first two days of fighting. Many militant bodies remain in the border area, and the military intends to collect and count them as soon as possible without endangering the lives of soldiers.
Israel’s Security Service (Shabak) and the Institute for Intelligence and Special Operations (Mossad) have set up a special operations center tasked with tracking down and destroying all Hamas fighters involved in attacks on Israeli territory.
It’s reported that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered Israeli intelligence agencies to track and assassinate all political and military Hamas leaders two weeks ago, U.S. journalist Seymour Hersh said citing unnamed sources.
Citing one “well-informed Israeli,” Hersh claims that Netanyahu tasked both the overseas intelligence agency and the internal security agency with this mission.
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