Eleven terrorists who infiltrated the Israeli border and took part in the slaughter of 1,200 people and the kidnapping of 251 others in Jewish communities in the south of Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, have been killed in recent operations in the Gaza Strip, the Israel Defense Forces and Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) said on Thursday night.
The terrorists, affiliated with Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, were directly involved in the murder and abduction of Israeli civilians and soldiers during the brutal attacks. Among them were:
- Hassan Na’am—Responsible for abducting Sgt. Shaked Dahan;
- Ismail Shakhshekh—Murdered civilians and fired a missile inside Israeli territory;
- Jalal Kara’an—Participated in the Supernova festival massacre and documented the killings;
- Muhammad Isa, Muhammad Shabki, Fares Krashin, Yahya Astal, Muhammad Zakir and Muhammad Astal—All infiltrated Israeli territory on Oct. 7 and took part in killings; and
- Muhammad Al-Safour and Khaled Aldin—Eliminated earlier in the war, linked to the assault on the IDF’s 6643rd “Southern Gaza” Brigade and to civilian murders.
The IDF vowed to continue pursuing all those involved in the massacre.
Senior Hamas sniper slain in Rafah
During recent activity in Rafah’s Tel al-Sultan neighborhood, Israeli forces killed Ahmad Iyad Muhammad Farhat, head of sniper operations in Hamas’s Tel al-Sultan Battalion. Farhat was responsible for planning and executing sniper attacks on IDF soldiers and additional terrorist activity against Israel.
Terror tunnel under a former kindergarten
In a separate operation, troops from the Golani Brigade uncovered a Hamas tunnel shaft within the yard of a former kindergarten in Rafah. It led to a booby-trapped tunnel connected to a larger underground terror route. It was located 100 meters from a building that previously operated as a school.
Soldiers from the Yahalom special operations engineering unit examined and dismantled the tunnel, part of Hamas’s long-standing strategy of embedding infrastructure in civilian areas.
Expanded ground and air operations across Gaza
IDF troops continued to operate in Tel al-Sultan, the Shabura neighborhood of central Rafah and the Morag Corridor between Rafah and Khan Yunis, killing terrorists, dismantling infrastructure and clearing booby-trapped sites. Similar action in northern Gaza included tank strikes against armed operatives in nearby buildings.
Over the past 24 hours, Israeli Air Force jets struck around 40 terrorist targets across the Gaza Strip, including Hamas compounds, weapons sites and terrorist cells.
“We will not rest until every terrorist involved in the Oct. 7 massacre is brought to justice,” an IDF spokesperson said.
