Overview
- The Israel Defense Forces and Shin Bet publicly acknowledged on Sunday that a joint unit called NILI was created after the Oct. 7, 2023 attack to identify and eliminate people linked to the assault.
- Officials and unit members told Channel 12 that NILI built a target database of thousands of names using facial recognition, artificial intelligence, attacker footage, human intelligence and interrogations.
- Channel 12 reporting attributes roughly 2,800 deaths linked to names on the list and says about 300 suspected participants have been captured and are awaiting military trials, figures that outlets note have limited independent verification.
- Operators described an operations room where targets are tracked in an internal list and removed when struck, and Israeli authorities say the campaign has helped remove much of Hamas’s senior command.
- Officials compared the effort to Mossad’s long pursuit after the 1972 Munich attack and said the mission will continue as a long-term manhunt, a development that raises questions about evidence standards, transparency and future military tribunals.