Some 4,000 Gazan terrorists who invaded Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, have been eliminated, but around 2,000 remain alive, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz revealed on Monday night.
Katz said he and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had ordered the Israel Defense Forces to “pursue and eliminate all of them—from senior to low-ranking.”
“This is what the murdered and the fallen have commanded us, and this is our duty as a people and as a state—and we will fulfill it,” the defense minister added.
Some 6,000 terrorists from Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Fatah, as well as unaffiliated Palestinian civilians, infiltrated the Jewish state on Oct. 7, murdering some 1,200 people, wounding thousands and kidnapping 251.
Katz said on Tuesday that he had instructed the IDF to be put on heightened alert ahead of the third anniversary of the Hamas-led massacre, citing intelligence indicating that the terror group plans to attack soldiers in the Gaza Strip.
Katz told the military to be ready for “any possible scenario,” according to a statement from his office.
“If, God forbid, our forces are harmed, Hamas and the population of Gaza will be the ones to pay a heavy price—beyond all proportion,” the statement added.
Israel on Monday observed the National Remembrance Day for the October 7 Disaster and the Swords of Iron War. It is observed annually on the Hebrew date of 24 Tishrei (shifting to the 25th if it falls on Shabbat), which corresponded this year to Monday, Oct. 5, marking three years since the 2023 attacks. Commemorations on Wednesday, Oct. 7, are taking place primarily in Diaspora communities and international locations.
Three years after the attacks, Israel is “stronger than ever,” Netanyahu told a memorial ceremony on Monday, while adding that “even now, the terrible hours of the Simchat Torah massacre are seared into us.”
The premier spoke at a state memorial ceremony at the Great Leaders of the Nation Memorial Park on Mount Herzl in Jerusalem, where he honored IDF soldiers and members of the security forces slain in the Oct. 7 massacre and the ensuing War of Redemption.
“Anyone who was involved in the attack against us and held our hostages is living on borrowed time,” he warned. “Day by day, we are settling accounts with these despicable murderers.”
IDF dismantles mile-long tunnel route in northern Gaza
The IDF said on Tuesday that troops had dismantled a 1.5-kilometer (0.9 mile) tunnel route in the northern Gaza Strip, inside the IDF-controlled zone east of the ceasefire line.
The operation was carried out by the Northern Brigade, under the 99th Division, together with engineering troops under Southern Command.
The IDF said its forces remain deployed in the area in accordance with the U.S.-brokered Oct. 10, 2025, ceasefire agreement and continue operating against immediate threats.
המבצע להשמדת התשתיות התת-קרקעיות ברצועת עזה נמשך: הושמד תוואי תת-קרקעי באורך קילומטר וחצי
— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) October 6, 2026
כוחות חטיבה צפונית, בפיקוד אוגדה 99 וכוחות ההנדסה של פיקוד הדרום ממשיכים לפעול לטיהור מרחב צפון רצועת עזה, מזרחית לקו הצהוב מתשתיות טרור.
במהלך פעילותם, כוחות החטיבה בשיתוף כוחות ההנדסה… pic.twitter.com/mFXWrOMviH
IDF, Shin Bet kill Hamas Nukhba commander who infiltrated Israel on Oct. 7
The IDF and Israeli Security Agency (Shin Bet) said on Monday that Hamas Nukhba Force platoon commander Ibrahim Mustafa Suleiman Abu Oweimer had been killed in an airstrike in Nuseirat in the central Gaza Strip on Friday. Abu Oweimer infiltrated Israel during the Oct. 7, 2023 massacre and recently advanced attacks on IDF troops and Israeli civilians while working to restore Hamas’s capabilities, the security services said.
IDF kills Oct. 7 Nukhba terrorist tied to Turkish aid group
On Sunday the military announced that it had killed Saqr Nabil Musa Qaisi, whom it identified as a Hamas Nukhba Force terrorist who infiltrated Israel during the Oct. 7, 2023, massacre, in a strike in the Khan Yunis area.
The IDF also identified Qaisi as a director of the Turkish humanitarian organization Deniz Feneri and accused him of using his position to employ Hamas operatives and provide financial support to the terrorist group. The military further alleged that the organization maintains ties with senior Hamas figures.
Qaisi had continued advancing terrorist activity against Israeli troops and civilians and working to restore Hamas capabilities in violation of the ceasefire, according to the military.
IDF kills Hamas commander, observation-unit operative in Gaza
Also on Sunday, the IDF announced that it had eliminated Hamas commander Muad Gamal Abu Nuseira in a strike in the Khan Yunis area and, a day earlier, Mahmoud Ibrahim Dib Alyan, an operative in Hamas’s observation unit.
Alyan had recently been advancing terrorist activity against Israeli troops near the Yellow Line and working to restore Hamas capabilities, the IDF said, describing it as a systematic violation of the ceasefire agreement.
IDF confirms strike on top Hamas leader in Gaza
The IDF on Saturday night confirmed that it had targeted Ali Ahmed al-Amoudi, the deputy chairman of Hamas’s political bureau and the terror group’s senior leader in the Gaza Strip.
“The results of the strike are under review,” the military stated.
“The strike was carried out while the terrorist was in an apartment used by the Hamas terrorist organization for terror activities,” according to the IDF. “Prior to the aerial strike, steps were taken to mitigate harm to civilians, including the use of precise munitions.”
Al-Amoudi is considered to be one of the terrorist organization’s most senior surviving leaders.
Al-Amoudi was involved in decision-making leading up the Oct. 7, 2023, massacre, the IDF said. Before the Hamas-led invasion of Israel, he headed the organization’s information and media department.
He was apprehended by Israeli forces in 2004 and sentenced to life in prison. In 2011, al-Amoudi was released as part of the Gilad Shalit prisoner exchange agreement.
Earlier on Saturday, the IDF announced the elimination of two Palestinian Islamic Jihad operatives in Gaza in separate strikes in Gaza City.
Ahmed Mahmoud Harb Ramlawi served as a commander in the rocket array of the terrorist group’s Shejaiya Battalion, while Munir Ibrahim Masr led a PIJ anti-tank missile cell, according to the military.
The two had been involved in restoring PIJ’s capabilities, in systematic violation of the ceasefire agreement, the IDF said.
