Israel's Expansive Assassination Campaign Targets October 7 Participants Across Multiple Regions

More than twenty-four months into its response to the October 7 attack, Israel has sustained what officials characterize as one of the most elaborate and far-reaching assassination campaigns in the nation's history. The operation targets individuals across all levels of involvement in the assault that resulted in approximately 1,200 Israeli deaths and the capture of roughly 250 people.

Israeli security officials established a specialized unit designated "Indigo" within hours of the October 7, 2023 attack, according to reporting by Wall Street Journal journalist Dov Lieber. The unit's mandate centers on locating and either eliminating or apprehending everyone involved in planning and executing the operation.

Israel compiled an extensive roster containing thousands of names spanning the operational hierarchy—from field combatants to military commanders and political leadership within Hamas. Israeli officials and former security personnel indicate that hundreds of individuals on this list have already been removed through either assassination or detention.

Among the notable cases detailed in the reporting was the killing of two individuals implicated in the abduction of Israeli civilian Noa Argamani during the Nova music festival. Both men appeared in footage documenting her capture on October 7, 2023. Argamani remained captive for 245 days before securing her release.

In May 2026, Israel eliminated Izz al-Din al-Haddad, a senior military commander who had participated in planning the October 7 operation and held the position of Hamas military chief in Gaza since 2025. Following this assassination, Israeli Army Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir stated: "The Israeli army will continue to pursue our enemies and hold accountable everyone who participated in the October 7 massacre."

The operation relies on sophisticated intelligence-gathering methods, including video analysis from footage shot by combatants on personal devices and action cameras, facial recognition technology, signal interception, cellular data analysis, and interrogations of Palestinian prisoners. According to Israeli security personnel, any individual suspected of participating in the attack may be placed on the target list based on two separate pieces of evidence documenting their involvement.

The campaign has extended well beyond Gaza's borders. Israeli operations have reached into Lebanon and Iran, resembling the Mossad assassination operations that followed the 1972 Munich attack. In early 2024, Israel killed Saleh Al-Arouri, a prominent Hamas figure, in Beirut's southern suburbs after locating him in an office following his arrival from Turkey. The operation also claimed Ismail Haniyeh, head of the Hamas Political Bureau, through an explosive device placed in his quarters at an Iranian Revolutionary Guard facility in Tehran.

Killings have persisted even following the Gaza ceasefire agreement, with Israeli forces continuing to target individuals they designate as security threats or participants in prior attacks.

A Hamas official characterized the Israeli campaign as "nothing but an extension of the policy of extrajudicial executions and systematic killing that Israel has practiced against the Palestinians for decades."

Hundreds of Palestinians currently remain in Israeli detention facilities facing charges related to October 7 participation, awaiting trial in a newly established military court system created specifically for these cases.

While Israeli leadership views these operations as a deterrent mechanism, analysts and observers express concern that the campaign could produce counterproductive consequences, potentially driving additional Palestinians toward armed resistance movements, particularly given the absence of any viable political settlement framework for the Palestinian question.

The Israeli strategy underscores Tel Aviv's determination to maintain an indefinite response to October 7, transforming it into an ongoing conflict that spans from Gaza's underground passages through the Lebanese capital to Tehran—representing one of the region's most sophisticated intelligence-driven revenge operations.