The IDF announced Friday that it had killed four Hamas terrorists in two separate strikes Wednesday in the Khan Younis and Rafah areas of southern Gaza. A Hamas Nukhba terrorist and a Hamas commander were among those killed.

The Nukhba unit of Hamas is an elite special operations force within the al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas. The unit is composed of highly trained special operations combatants who carry out infiltrations, raids, and ambushes. Israel has said that this unit led the Oct. 7 attack against Israel in 2023.

According to the IDF, the terrorists had recently been planning attacks against Israeli civilians and troops while working to rebuild Hamas’ terrorist capabilities, in repeated violation of the ceasefire. The military said the strikes were carried out to eliminate this threat.

Separately, the IDF announced Wednesday that it had eliminated three Hamas commanders in Gaza, including a Nukhba commander who infiltrated the Sufa military outpost and a company commander who crossed into Israel during the Oct. 7 massacre.

On the morning of Oct. 7, terrorists overran the Sufa outpost, which was installed near the kibbutz of the same name. A small group of Israeli soldiers and tank crews stayed and fought for hours before retaking the base.

The IDF said the three commanders had recently been involved in planning attacks against Israeli civilians and soldiers and attempting to restore Hamas’ military capabilities, repeatedly violating the ceasefire. The army said that they posed immediate threats and were eliminated to neutralize those threats.

Despite the ceasefire, the IDF has been picking off Oct. 7 terrorists, claiming they pose an active threat to justify it conducting the strikes, taking down 17 in September alone. At least eight have been killed this month.

To that end, the IDF and Shin Bet established a special operation conducted by a unit called Nili to hunt down and eliminate every single terrorist who participated in the Oct. 7 attack, abused hostages, held hostages in captivity, or participated in the hostage release ceremonies. Hamas leaders who orchestrated the attack were also included on the list.

Nili has achieved stunning successes so far, as evinced by Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz’s assessment that 4,000 out of 6,000 terrorists have been eliminated. Nili operatives, who comprise Shin Bet officials and IDF soldiers and reservists, use footage from Hamas GoPro cameras, facial recognition software, online video and photographic evidence, artificial intelligence and traditional tools to collect information on the ground.

Finding and eliminating the terrorists meant sifting through thousands of documents and other pieces of evidence, “an endless pile of material,” as described by Adi Rotem, a former senior official with the Shin Bet.

For example, terrorists who kidnapped Yaffa Adar, 85; Yagil Yaakov, 12; Yarden Bibas; and Avinatan Or, as well as the terrorist who drove his tractor through the border fence, have all been eliminated.