Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz on Monday, 6 October 2025 announced that Israel has ordered its military to hunt down and kill the remaining participants in the Hamas-led October 7, 2023 attack on southern Israel, placing their number at 2,000. Katz stated that approximately 6,000 attackers crossed the border into Israel on that day, of whom 4,000 have already been killed.

The Order to Pursue Remaining Attackers

Katz confirmed that he and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had jointly issued the directive to the Israeli military. 'We ordered the military to pursue and kill them all, from the most senior to the most junior,' Katz said. The order marks a formal, publicly declared escalation of Israel's stated mission to hold every participant of the October 7 assault accountable, regardless of rank.

Netanyahu at Mount Herzl Memorial

Separately, Prime Minister Netanyahu spoke at a state memorial ceremony at Mount Herzl in Jerusalem on the same day, reaffirming Israel's commitment to pursuing those responsible for the attack and those holding hostages, as well as its goal of ending Hamas' rule in Gaza. His remarks came as Israel marks the approach of the second anniversary of the assault.

Earlier in September, Netanyahu had addressed the United Nations General Assembly, firmly rejecting accusations that Israel was committing a 'genocide' of Palestinians in Gaza, calling such claims 'the greatest lie of the century.' He described Israel as fighting on seven fronts — against Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis, Iran, militias in Iraq, militias in Syria, and Palestinian terrorists in the West Bank — declaring, 'They all ganged up on us to wipe us off the face of the Earth. They failed.'

Scale of the Conflict and Casualties

The October 7, 2023 Hamas-led attack killed approximately 1,200 people in Israel, triggering a large-scale Israeli military campaign in Gaza that has, according to Gaza's health authorities, killed more than 74,200 people over nearly three years of operations. Israel has eliminated much of Hamas' senior leadership during this period, including Yahya Sinwar and his younger brother Mohammad Sinwar.

What This Means Going Forward

The explicit, public order to pursue the remaining 2,000 alleged attackers signals that Israel has no intention of winding down its campaign of targeted operations, even as international pressure mounts over civilian casualties in Gaza. Netanyahu's defence of Israel's bombing of Iran — 'If we hadn't done it, we'd all be dead' — underscores the broad scope of how Israeli leadership frames the current conflict. With the two-year mark of the October 7 attack approaching, this declaration reinforces that accountability for the assault remains a cornerstone of Israeli military and political strategy.