Police Arrest Three October 7 Terrorists in Rahat

Three Gaza residents who infiltrated Israel during the October 7 massacre and are suspected terrorists were arrested this week in the southern city of Rahat, Israeli authorities confirmed overnight Saturday. The suspects were transferred to the Shin Bet for further interrogation.

The arrests were carried out during a police raid on a compound in Rahat, where officers from a canine unit conducted searches based on intelligence gathered in recent weeks. During the operation, police discovered an iron lathe that investigators believe was used to manufacture weapons or weapons components. Officers also seized approximately 50 rounds of 9 mm ammunition, along with loose ammunition intended for use in Kalashnikov rifles.

Police said the arrests were part of a broader month-long operation targeting illegal weapons and violent criminal networks in the Bedouin sector. According to law enforcement, special police units carried out dozens of raids on compounds linked to feuding families across the Negev. As part of the operation, more than 250 suspects were arrested on suspicion of illegal possession, use, or theft of firearms and involvement in violent disputes. Authorities also issued fines totaling roughly one million shekels.

This is not the first time terrorists who crossed into Israel during the October 7 attack have been located in Rahat. About a month after the massacre, two Hamas terrorists who infiltrated Israel that day were arrested in the city during a joint operation by Border Police undercover units and the Shin Bet. At the time, police said neither of those suspects belonged to Hamas’s elite Nukhba force, describing one as a looter who entered from Gaza and the other as a Hamas operative. Both were taken into custody without injuries to Israeli forces.

The October 7 massacre, in which Hamas terrorists invaded southern Israel, killed and kidnapped civilians, and sparked the ongoing war in Gaza, remains a central focus of Israel’s internal security efforts. Israeli security agencies have continued to pursue suspects believed to have crossed the border during the attack and evaded capture in its aftermath.

Rahat, the largest Arab city in southern Israel, lies just north of Beersheba and is home primarily to Bedouin residents. Israeli officials have repeatedly stressed that the vast majority of the city’s residents are not involved in terrorism, while warning that criminal and terrorist elements have exploited weak enforcement and illegal weapons proliferation in parts of the Negev.

Authorities said the investigation into the suspects’ activities and their movements since October 7 is ongoing.