After the Hamas attack on Israel more than two weeks ago, the Israeli state is promising a ground offensive in Gaza. Nothing yet. The Israeli army initially focused on freeing hundreds of hostages, in addition to the constant aerial bombardment of Gaza.

However, Prime Minister Netanyahu announced on Monday that elite soldiers had entered Gaza in search of Israeli hostages.

This is the Sayeret Matkal unit, the most secret Israeli special forces. It specializes in hostage rescue, counter-terrorism, intelligence and military intelligence, reports La Libre, as cited by Rador Radio Romania.

Its missions are strictly confidential and its members are kept secret. Their family should not even know they are part of this unit. Admission requirements are very strict, and training is exhausting. Young replenishment is allowed only after a march of 120 km.

Sayeret Matkal dates back to the first Israeli-Palestinian war in 1948. The IDF battalion is responsible for covert operations in enemy territory.

The commandos were then nicknamed “Samson’s foxes”, referring to the biblical story in which Samson catches 300 foxes and sets them on fire before releasing them into Philistine territory to avenge his wife. The unit was officially established in 1957 by General Avraham Arnan.

This unit is known for large-scale operations, such as the operation at Entebbe Airport (Uganda) in 1976. Pro-Palestinian terrorists hijacked an Air France Tel Aviv-Paris flight, taking more than 240 passengers hostage on board. A week later, Sayeret Matkal carried out a spectacular raid, freeing all the hostages and killing all the kidnappers.

Several members of the government were part of this unit, such as Naftali Bennett, the former prime minister, Ehud Barak, who was the defense minister, or even Benjamin Netanyahu, who was wounded during the operation in Entebbe.

Delayed ground offensive?

But if Sayeret Matkal is now invading Palestinian territory, it will also be to gather intelligence to pave the way for a possible ground offensive, several experts said.

“I see that they are also using tanks, important assets that are not normally used in infiltration operations. Special forces, as a rule, are used to conducting very targeted operations. I think at the same time they are trying to investigate the defense of Hamas,” Chris Kwanten, a military historian and professor at the Royal Military Academy, told Het Nieuwsblad.

These invasions could even be an integral part of the long-awaited offensive. According to some experts, such as former US ambassador to Israel (2001-2005) Daniel Kurtzer, the offensive could “take place in stages, with incursions led by small groups of Israeli soldiers, rather than a major invasion”. said on CNBC.

The same opinion is shared by Eloise Faye, a researcher at the Center for Security Studies of the IFRI /French Institute of International Relations/, who estimates in “Libération” that Israel could use the first phase of “invasions” to gather information before launching a “stronger” second ground phase , reports La Libre, as quoted by Rador Radio Romania.