Defense Minister: 2,000 Hamas Militants from Oct. 7 Attack Still Alive

Defense Minister Israel Katz revealed on Monday that out of the approximately 6,000 Hamas militants who crossed into Israel during the October 7th attack, 4,000 have been eliminated. Katz stated that the remaining 2,000 militants will be pursued and killed, emphasizing that the directive from himself and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the IDF and all security forces is to hunt down every remaining operative.

Katz clarified that the operation is not limited to senior Hamas officials but targets anyone who participated in the attack and crossed the border into Israel, regardless of their rank or position within the organization. He stressed that the ongoing pursuit of these militants is a commitment to the victims of the October 7th massacre and to the soldiers who have fallen in the subsequent war.

"The order from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and myself to the IDF and all security elements is sharp and clear: beyond the supreme goal of dismantling Hamas and demilitarizing Gaza, pursue and eliminate them all without limitation and in any situation, from the senior to the junior," the Defense Minister said. Katz concluded by vowing that Israel would fulfill this mission, framing it as a "commandment from the murdered and the fallen and our duty as a people and a state."