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Middle East conflict

At least 3,000 Hamas fighters participated in October 7 attack on Israel — IDF

It is reported that the Israel Defense Forces killed about 1,000 militants inside Israel and captured about 200 in the first two days of fighting

© Amir Levy/Getty Images

TEL AVIV, November 2. /TASS/. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) established that at least 3,000 militants of the radical Palestinian movement Hamas took part in the October 7 attack, The Times of Israel said.

According to the IDF's assessment, which is based on information obtained during interrogations of captured radicals, some 3,000 Hamas fighters infiltrated Israeli territory on the morning of October 7, significantly exceeding initial estimates. The military had previously estimated that between 1,500 and 2,000 militants took part in the attack, which killed some 1,400 people, mostly civilians in their homes and participants in a music festival. The militants also took at least 245 hostages.

The Israel Defense Forces said its forces had killed about 1,000 militants inside Israel and captured about 200 in the first two days of fighting. Many militant bodies remain in the border area, and the military intends to collect and count them as soon as possible without endangering the lives of soldiers.

Israel's Security Service (Shabak) and the Institute for Intelligence and Special Operations (Mossad) have set up a special operations center tasked with tracking down and destroying all Hamas fighters involved in attacks on Israeli territory.

Tensions flared up again in the Middle East on October 7 when militants from the radical Palestinian group Hamas staged a surprise attack on Israeli territory from the Gaza Strip, killing residents of Israeli border settlements and taking hostages, including women, children and the elderly. Hamas described its attack as a response to the aggressive actions of Israeli authorities against the Al-Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem’s Old City. Israel has announced a total blockade of the Gaza Strip and has been delivering air strikes on Gaza as well as some parts of Lebanon and Syria. Clashes are also underway in the West Bank. On October 31, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israel's military operation in Gaza has already entered its third phase, which includes the expansion of ground operations in the enclave.

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