Tel Aviv, Nov 1 (IANS): A new IDF assessment of Hamas’ October 7 massacre suggests that around 3,000 terrorists invaded southern Israel to carry out a murderous rampage through Gaza border towns, a media report said.

Previously, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) had estimated that some 2,500 terrorist operatives took part, The Times of Israel reported.

According to the latest assessment, the figures only include armed terror operatives and not the waves of Gazan citizens who took advantage of the enormous gaps in the fence to also make their way inside later in the day, the report said.

The IDF has claimed that during the first two days of fighting, its forces killed around 1,000 terrorists and captured 200, and that there are many bodies of terrorists still scattered around the border area, and it intends to collect them when possible without endangering soldiers’ lives.

As ground operations continue in the Gaza Strip, a new assessment by the IDF holds that the number of Hamas terrorists who invaded Israel is much higher than the initial estimates, Ynet News reported.