Israel reveals secret unit hunting down every 7 October terrorist

Israel has publicly acknowledged for the first time the existence of a special intelligence unit tasked with tracking down those involved in the 7 October massacre.

The joint IDF and Shin Bet operation, known as “Nili”, has spent almost three years identifying and locating thousands of people accused of taking part in the Hamas-led attacks, holding hostages or abusing them in captivity.

Officers from the previously secretive unit have now spoken about its work in an interview with Israel’s Channel 12, revealing the scale of the operation and some of the intelligence used to find its targets.

According to the report, 2,800 people on Nili’s list have been killed, a figure which includes around 1,200 terrorists killed by Israeli forces during the 7 October attacks themselves.

The operation was first reported by The Times of Israel, which said the IDF and Shin Bet had previously declined to comment on its existence.

Nili was established in the immediate aftermath of 7 October, when Hamas-led terrorists stormed southern Israel, killing around 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages.

Its intelligence teams built a database containing thousands of names before beginning the lengthy process of establishing the identity and whereabouts of each person.

Investigators have used footage filmed by terrorists during the attacks, including recordings from GoPro-style cameras, alongside facial recognition technology.

Information gathered by IDF and Shin Bet intelligence officers and interrogations of Palestinian detainees has also been used, while artificial intelligence has helped investigators piece together evidence.

Adi Rotem, a former senior Shin Bet official, described the information collected after the massacre as “an endless pile of material”.

The target list extends beyond those accused of physically crossing into Israel on 7 October.

A Nili officer told Channel 12 that people involved in holding Israeli hostages, as well as those accused of meeting or abusing captives in Gaza, had also been added. People who participated in staged hostage-release ceremonies have also been targeted.

Those killed through the operation reportedly include terrorists involved in the kidnappings of Yaffa Adar, Yagil Yaakov, Yarden Bibas and Avinatan Or.

One officer, identified only as Lammed, said the unit could pursue anyone from senior Hamas fighters to those who played a practical role in the invasion.

“It could be the driver who drove a tractor (across the border), and it could be a Nukhba company commander who led the invasion,” she said.

Describing the intelligence work behind individual strikes, she added: “We knew what time he went to the shop, we knew the path he took; this is the task of intelligence, to take every target of interest to us, and investigate him down to the smallest detail, to the level of when he goes to pray, and what he eats for breakfast.”

The unit takes its name from Nili, the Jewish underground intelligence network which operated in Ottoman-controlled Palestine during the First World War.

Israeli officials have also previously compared the operation with Israel’s pursuit of those linked to the murder of 11 Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics.

The Times of Israel reported that an IDF official said Nili’s work would continue “even as time passes, until the last of (the terrorists is killed),” and would be conducted “in accordance with the legal and operational framework”.