More than two years after the “October 7” attack, Israel continues to implement one of the most complex and widespread assassination campaigns in its history, targeting everyone who participated, planned, or contributed to the operation carried out by the “Hamas” movement inside the Israeli settlements, in a path that Tel Aviv says will not stop “until we reach everyone.”
According to a report by journalist Dov Lieber in the Wall Street Journal, the Israeli security services, hours after the “October 7” attack in 2023, established a special unit called “Indigo,” whose sole mission was to track down, kill, or arrest all participants in the attack that led to the death of about 1,200 Israelis and the capture of about 250 people.
The report indicated that Israel prepared a list of thousands of names, which included fighters at various levels, from those who carried out field raids to Hamas’ military and political leaders. According to current and former Israeli officials, hundreds of names have so far been crossed out after assassinations or arrests were carried out.
Among the most prominent operations reviewed in the report was the assassination of two participants in the kidnapping of Israeli Noa Argamani during the “Nova” music festival, after they appeared in the famous video that documented her kidnapping on October 7, 2023. Argamani spent 245 days in captivity before her release.
The newspaper also revealed that earlier this month, Israel assassinated Izz al-Din al-Haddad, one of the last prominent military commanders who participated in planning the “October 7” attack, and who had been the military commander of Hamas in Gaza since 2025.
The report quoted Israeli Army Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir as saying after the assassination of Al-Haddad: “The Israeli army will continue to pursue our enemies and hold accountable everyone who participated in the October 7 massacre.”
The report explained that the campaign relies on advanced techniques, including analyzing videos posted by fighters on phones and GoPro cameras, using facial recognition programs, intercepting communications, and analyzing cell phone data, in addition to interrogating Palestinian detainees to determine the identity of the participants and their roles.
According to Israeli security officials, any person suspected of participating in the attack could be included on the hit list if there are “two pieces of evidence” of his participation.
Israeli operations extended outside Gaza, targeting Hamas leaders in Lebanon and Iran, in a scene that brought to mind the assassinations carried out by the Mossad after the Munich attack in 1972.
Among the most prominent of these operations was the assassination of Saleh Al-Arouri, a prominent leader in Hamas, in the southern suburb of Beirut in early 2024, after Israel spotted him inside an office he was using after his return from Turkey. The report also indicated the assassination of the head of the Hamas Political Bureau, Ismail Haniyeh, via an explosive device planted inside his room at a headquarters belonging to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard in Tehran.
The report confirmed that assassinations continued even after the ceasefire agreement in Gaza, as Israel continues to target people it says “pose a threat” or have participated in previous attacks.
On the other hand, the newspaper quoted a Hamas official as saying that the Israeli campaign “is nothing but an extension of the policy of extrajudicial executions and systematic killing that Israel has practiced against the Palestinians for decades.”
The report also indicated that there are hundreds of Palestinians detained inside Israel on charges of participating in the “October 7” attack, awaiting special trials after a law was passed to establish a military court dedicated to these files.
While Israeli officials see these assassinations as a deterrent factor, others warn that they may lead to adverse results and push more Palestinians to join armed factions, especially in the absence of any political horizon for resolving the Palestinian issue.
This Israeli path reflects Tel Aviv’s insistence on turning “October 7” into an open battle with no time limit, extending from the Gaza tunnels to the streets of Beirut and Tehran, in one of the most complex intelligence campaigns of revenge in the region.
