Nearly two years after the deadliest attack on Jews since the Holocaust, Israel has carried out one of the most methodical and technologically advanced manhunts in modern warfare — a campaign aimed at identifying, locating, and eliminating every individual who participated in the October 7, 2023 assault on southern Israel.
The operation, run by a special task force involving military intelligence, Shin Bet (Israel’s internal security agency), and the Israel Defense Forces, has already resulted in the deaths of hundreds of militants, from low-level gunmen to senior Hamas commanders. Israeli officials say the effort will continue until every participant is accounted for, regardless of the current ceasefire in Gaza, reported WSJ.
Hours after the attack began, Israeli intelligence began compiling a list of thousands of names. The list includes not only planners and senior commanders but also foot soldiers who took part in the massacre that killed 1,200 people and took around 250 hostages.
On Friday, Israel killed Ezzedin al-Haddad, one of the last remaining senior Hamas military leaders involved in planning the October 7 attacks. Haddad had taken over as Hamas’s top military commander in Gaza in 2025 after the deaths of Yahya and Mohammed Sinwar.
The strike in Gaza City also killed his wife, daughter, and several other people, according to Palestinian sources. Israel described Haddad as actively working to rebuild Hamas’s military capabilities despite the ceasefire.
One of the most widely seen images from October 7 was the video of Noa Argamani, then 25, being taken hostage on a motorcycle from the Nova music festival. After 245 days in captivity, she was rescued in a daring Israeli operation. Two of the men seen restraining her boyfriend in that video were later tracked down and killed in separate strikes.Argamani’s father, Yacov, said after her release that his only wish was for her to see her terminally ill mother one last time. That wish was granted. Noa and her mother spent three weeks together before her mother passed away.
While some freed hostages celebrated the killing of figures like Haddad, others expressed more mixed feelings. Aviva Siegal, held for 51 days, said she opposed further killing despite her own suffering.
“I’m alive,” she said, “and that’s enough for me.”
The campaign has raised questions about the boundary between lawful wartime targeting and extrajudicial killings. International law allows militaries to target enemy combatants, even during a ceasefire, if they pose an ongoing threat. However, targeting civilians who may have participated in hostilities is far more legally complex.Rachel VanLandingham, a former U.S. Air Force judge advocate and national security law expert, said the law permits killing active combatants but requires due process for civilians suspected of crimes.Israeli officials maintain that everyone on the list directly participated in hostilities on October 7 and remains a threat.
The task force, originally named NILI (a Hebrew acronym meaning “The Eternal One of Israel Doesn’t Lie”), was created shortly after the attack with the explicit goal of ensuring no perpetrator would escape justice. It draws parallels to Israel’s response to the 1972 Munich Olympics massacre, when agents hunted down those responsible over many years. As the war with Iran continues to demand resources, the hunt for October 7 attackers has been scaled back but not stopped. Officials say names continue to be added and crossed off the list.
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