A new Israeli military assessment of the October 7 Hamas attack indicates that about 3,000 militants infiltrated southern Israel to carry out the deadly attack in the Gaza envelope, The Times of Israel has learned.

Previously, the military estimated that about 2,500 militants took part in the unprecedented attack, which killed about 1,400 people in Israel, most of them civilians who were killed in their homes or at a music festival. The militants also held at least 245 hostages of all ages, under the cover of a torrent of thousands of rockets fired at Israeli towns and cities.

The 3,000 figure in the latest assessment only includes militants and does not include Gazan civilians who took advantage of massive gaps in the fence to enter Israeli territory later in the day.

The Israeli army said that during the first two days of fighting, its forces killed about 1,000 militants in Israeli territory and captured 200 others, and that there are many bodies of militants still scattered around the border area, and the army intends to collect them and count them when it is possible to do so without endangering the lives of the soldiers.