'They are all marked for death wherever they are'

Israel steps up campaign to kill all 5,000 Oct. 7 terrorists; 1,200 were killed on the day, 1,500 so far since

Times of Israel analysis shows sharp increase, despite Gaza truce, in strikes targeting those who participated in the massacre or held and abused hostages; 300 more have been captured

While driving in the central Israeli city of Rosh Ha’ayin in late June, eight months after being freed from captivity in the Gaza Strip, former hostage Rom Braslavski received a phone call from a military officer.

“We wanted to update you that Abu Yousef, Talal Abd al-Aal, was eliminated,” the officer said to Braslavski, referring to a Palestinian Islamic Jihad commander who held and abused him during his two years in captivity by the terror group.

“You can’t be serious,” Braslavski replied.

“I’m very serious. You have no idea how happy I am, how excited I am, for you,” the officer said.

“Wow, I can’t believe it. Wait a second, I have to pull over for something like this,” Braslavski said, bursting into tears. “Are you serious? You are 100% sure?”

As with other announcements of strikes in Gaza, the Israel Defense Forces declared in an official statement released soon after that it had killed al-Aal, an Islamic Jihad commander who held hostages and commanded terrorists as they invaded Israel on October 7, 2023, because he had “posed an immediate threat” to troops in the Strip.

The claim that it had struck al-Aal in self-defense rather than revenge meant that the killing was legitimate under the terms of the ongoing US-brokered ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, which limits Israeli operations to responding to violations of the truce, including by thwarting plans by terror operatives to attack troops.

An analysis by The Times of Israel has found that, despite the ceasefire,  the IDF has in the past few months stepped up a large-scale retribution campaign with the avowed aim of hunting down and eliminating every single terrorist who took part in the October 7 massacre.

On that day, thousands of Gazans poured into Israel, invading communities, music festivals, army posts and other locations, and massacring some 1,200 people and abducting 251 hostages in the deadliest attack on Jews since the Holocaust.

Israel has created a list of all the Gazans who were identified as having invaded Israeli territory on October 7, using a plethora of video and photographic evidence of the attack posted online by terrorists on and after the attack, and running the footage through facial recognition software. Also on the list are all Hamas leaders involved in orchestrating the massacre, according to Israeli officials.

So far, of the estimated 5,000 terrorists who participated in the October 7 attack or helped hold hostages, more than 2,700 have been confirmed by the military to have been killed — including 1,200 who were killed during the onslaught and those targeted in the Strip amid the war — The Times of Israel has learned.

Another 300 alleged perpetrators have been captured by Israel and await judgment by special military tribunals, which have yet to be set up. Those convicted of genocide will be eligible for the death penalty.

The Munich Olympics precedent

The effort to eliminate perpetrators of October 7 has been led by a unit in the Shin Bet security agency, named after the World War I-era Jewish underground spy organization Nili.

Israeli officials have invoked the aftermath of the 1972 Munich Olympics as a precedent for the retribution campaign against the October 7 terrorists, pointing to the years-long and largely unsuccessful Mossad-led effort to track down and eliminate anyone linked to the massacre of 11 Israeli athletes during the Games.

“Let every Arab mother know that if her son took part in the [October 7] massacre — he signed his own death warrant,” then-Mossad chief David Barnea said in 2024, at the funeral of former Mossad chief Zvi Zamir, who led the spy agency during and after the Munich attack. “The Mossad today, like 50 years ago, must hold to account the murderers who invaded the Gaza border area on October 7 — the planners and those who sent them.”

The Nili unit was established immediately after the Hamas-led attack. It is made up of experienced intelligence personnel from the IDF and Shin Bet, both in the standing army and reserves, and their role is to carry out in-depth intelligence investigations regarding the terrorists who invaded on October 7 and returned to Gaza, including efforts to determine their location, in order to strike them.

An IDF official said after the October 2025 ceasefire began that the Nili unit’s efforts would continue “even as time passes, until the last of [the terrorists is killed],” and that they were being carried out “in accordance with the legal and operational framework.”

The Shin Bet and IDF did not respond to requests to discuss the ongoing operation.

Ramped up strikes

The Times of Israel analyzed over 200 incidents of strikes in Gaza during the ceasefire, and found that since the war in Iran ended in April, the IDF ramped up its strikes on perpetrators of the October 7 onslaught, terrorists who held hostages during the war, and other commanders in Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, with a clear spike seen in such strikes in June.

During the first few months of the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, which took effect in October 2025, most of the IDF’s strikes in Gaza targeted individuals identified by the army as terror operatives or suspects claimed to have crossed the ceasefire line, approached forces and “posed an immediate threat.”

Such incidents occurred nearly daily in October and November 2025, then slowed. By mid-2026, incidents of suspects being targeted after crossing the so-called Yellow Line, which divides areas controlled by the IDF and by Hamas, had become rare.

Meanwhile, in recent months, strikes on October 7 terrorists, hostage-takers, terror commanders and infrastructure sites in the Hamas-run part of the Strip have been on the rise.

In April, a Times of Israel count found that Israeli strikes killed six October 7 terrorists or those who held hostages, two terror commanders, and some 55 other operatives who “posed a threat” to troops in various circumstances — some after crossing the Yellow Line.

In May, the number of strikes on October 7 terrorists and hostage-takers stayed the same at six, but the number of slain terror commanders rose to five, while strikes on other terror operatives dropped to around 35. The IDF also reported striking at least 12 weapons depots in Gaza during May.

A spike occurred in June, with the IDF reporting killing 13 October 7 terrorists, along with 15 terror group commanders and some 30 other operatives who it claimed had posed a threat.

Also in June, the military reported striking a Hamas tunnel system, rocket launchers, three weapon depots and the headquarters of the terror group’s naval police.

So far in July, the IDF has reported killing at least five October 7 terrorists, another eight terror commanders, and 21 more operatives working to restore Hamas infrastructure or advance attacks.

According to the IDF, of the estimated 5,000 terrorists who entered Israel on October 7, more than 1,200 were killed in southern Israel during the onslaught.

Of the thousands that managed to return to Gaza, over 1,500 have been targeted and killed in Gaza during the past three years of war — largely due to efforts of the Nili unit  — including top commanders in Hamas and other terror groups who commanded the massacre and abductions during the onslaught, according to Israeli security officials who spoke with The Times of Israel.

The military estimates that there are potentially over 2,000 more October 7 terrorists still alive in the Strip.

In late May, after killing the fourth Hamas military wing chief named during the war, Mohammed Odeh, Defense Minister Israel Katz said that Israel was continuing to honor its pledge to “eliminate everyone who led the October 7 massacre.”

“They are all marked for death wherever they are,” he said.