Infantrymen from the IDF’s Netzah Yehuda Battalion patrol near the Gaza border, Oct. 20, 2023. Photo courtesy of Yonatan Sindel/Flash90.
A Hamas terrorist from the Oct. 7 massacre of more than 1,400 Israelis was caught on Saturday. Oct. 21, while trying to return to the Gaza Strip. The member of the Nukhba forces that led the hours-long assault on western Negev communities was “exhausted” after spending two weeks on the run, the IDF said on Sunday. He was transferred to the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) for questioning.
Some 2,500 Gazan terrorists infiltrated Israel on Oct. 7 where they murdered mostly civilians, wounded thousands and took more than 200 hostages back to the Strip. The security forces killed a majority of the terrorists and nearly all of the rest returned to Gaza. However, Israeli forces continue searching for terrorists who may still be hiding inside the country.
Israeli security forces arrested four Gazans on Friday, Oct. 20, who were hiding in an apartment in Beersheva. Border Police officers acted upon intelligence indicating the Gazans were in Israel illegally.
Also recently, an unarmed Gazan was caught near the Israeli city of Netivot, about eight miles from the Strip, and taken to the local police station for questioning. It is thought that he entered Israel as part of the mass border infiltration.
The Shin Bet and the Mossad have formed a special operations unit to track down and kill all of the Nukhba members who led the Oct. 7 terror rampage. The unit will reportedly be named after the World War I-era Jewish underground organization Nili, an acronym for a Hebrew phrase that translates as “the Eternal One of Israel will not lie.”
