The Israeli Navy’s Snapir unit fought Hamas militants attempting to reach Israel along the coast on Oct. 7, the IDF said. (Israel Defense Forces)
Published October 16, 2023
An Israeli Navy squad stopped a number of Hamas terrorists from reaching Israel’s coastline on the morning of Oct. 7, according to footage released by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) over the weekend.
The IDF said the video shows soldiers in the Snapir unit spraying machine gun fire on Hamas terrorists as they swam toward the Israeli coast near the city of Ashdod.
“Israeli Navy ‘Snapir‘ Unit opened fire on terrorists who were swimming toward the shoreline in an attempt to infiltrate Israel by sea,” the IDF said. “Soldiers thwarted a number of terrorists, preventing them from reaching the coastline.”
The video shows Hamas speedboats on fire. Surviving terrorists were seen swimming in the sea, along with Hamas divers, as the Snapir unit opened fire and used depth charges from small Defender-class boats, the Times of Israel reported.
Israel’s Snapir protection force is a harbor security unit that patrols the Israeli coastline, according to the newspaper. The squadrons are stationed at bases in Ashdod, Haifa and Eilat.
Hamas launched a deadly surprise attack against Israel from Gaza on Oct. 7, infiltrating communities across the border and firing thousands of missiles in barrages to overwhelm Israel’s Iron Dome defenses.
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SOURCE: https://www.foxnews.com/world/israeli-navy-unit-repels-hamas-terrorists-infiltrating-sea-morning-attack-idf-video-shows
RELATED: How Israel’s Sayeret Matkal Are Trained for Gaza Hostage Scenario
Benjamin Netanyahu, right, during a training exercise with Sayeret Matkal, in a picture released on November 1, 1971. The unit is expected lead efforts to rescue hostages in Gaza.
Published October 16, 2023
he Israeli special forces unit Sayeret Matkal is on standby to try to rescue nearly 200 hostages taken by Hamas militants, it has been reported.
That division and the Yamam special forces of Israel’s national police will be involved in the difficult operation to free Israeli and foreign nationals being held in locations across Gaza that are being defended by Hamas fighters, U.K. newspaper The Telegraph said.
U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has also said the U.S. has “people on the ground” who will assist Israeli authorities “with intelligence and planning” for potential hostage rescue efforts. Meanwhile, advisers from the U.S. intelligence community will assist an American special operations team assigned to the U.S. embassy in Israel, according to The Messenger.
But key to any rescue will be the special reconnaissance division that is considered one of the premier special force units of Israel.
The History of Sayeret Matkal
Sayeret Matkal specializes in hostage rescue and reconnaissance missions and it can count Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu among its veterans. Founded in 1957, the group has taken part in every major conflict involving Israel, although its existence was only officially acknowledged in the 1980s.
Netanyahu was involved in one of the unit’s early hostage rescues, codenamed Operation Isotope. A commercial airliner had been hijacked by four members of the Black September Organization, a Palestinian group, who were threatening to kill the passengers onboard if Palestinian prisoners were not released by Israel.
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SOURCE: https://www.newsweek.com/sayeret-matkal-israel-gaza-hostages-training-1834874
RELATED: Former Israeli soldier suggests hostage rescue operations behind delay in ground invasion of Gaza
‘You’re about to see what Israel does best,’ says counterterrorism expert on potential hostage rescues
Published October 16, 2023
Israeli Defense Forces veteran Aaron Cohen believes the delay of Israel’s planned ground invasion of Gaza was likely related to its sophisticated hostage rescue operations and intelligence gathering, saying “you’re about to see what Israel does best.”
Israel has warned citizens of northern Gaza – the Palestinian territory governed by the terrorist group Hamas – to evacuate as the military continues its response to the Hamas attack that slaughtered Israeli civilians and took an estimated 150-200 hostages last week.
The delay of its operation was ostensibly weather-related, but Cohen said he believed it was tied directly to Israel’s efforts to rescue as many hostages and preserve as many lives as possible.
“I believe the delay is directly connected to the hostage rescue portfolio on the macro level,” he said on “FOX & Friends” Sunday.
“Israel is no junior varsity when it comes to this. They’re masters at the craft, so what they’re doing right now is taking 40 years of experience, and they’re buying as much time as they can to be able to collect actionable intelligence. The reason why that is critical when it comes to hostages is because you have grandmothers, grandfathers, babies whose parents were murdered in front of them, being held up in the air by Hamas. And you’ve got civilians that are essentially placed throughout Gaza in multiple locations.”
No stranger to high-risk hostage rescues, Israel’s special forces are likely using the time to make any operation as precise as they can, he said.
