In December 2024, the IDF was fighting in Jabalya in northern Gaza. The military had attempted to clear this stronghold of terrorists in the past. However, they were still there.
Jabalya is a warren of residential homes, some of which are part of a refugee camp established in the 1950s. The war has dramatically changed the area. Some homes were badly damaged or destroyed by the fighting: windows blown out, pieces of concrete dangling, walls ripped apart, and the ground around them churned up by tanks and armored vehicles. Other areas were less damaged.
“I was with a combination of the Givati Infantry Brigade and the 401st Armored Brigade,” recalled Major Y. His name cannot be used for security reasons. He is a member of the IDF’s Unit 504, which is part of the Military Intelligence Directorate. The 504th focuses on gathering human intelligence in the field, which can mean interrogating people to identify threats in the thick of battle.
In December 2024, Major Y was in Jabalya, attached to IDF units advancing through the urban battlefield. The military usually does this with tanks and infantry working together, hence he was with the Givati infantry and the 401st and their tanks.
“A terrorist was detained during operations and brought to the officer,” Major Y noted. “He was identified as a member of Palestinian Islamic Jihad, one of the terrorist groups in Gaza. While Hamas is the largest terror group, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, PIJ, also has thousands of members.
This PIJ member was ready to talk, not about his own group but about Hamas.
“He was willing to share information about Hamas. He gave a few different bits of information. One was the site of an ambush Hamas had set up and the houses the operatives were in.” The information was combined with other intelligence the IDF had gathered and received about the sector.
“After it was checked, there were airstrikes on the targets. For me, that was meaningful because the troops had been expected to move in that direction [toward the threat]; it was good to see the effects of our good work.”The intelligence he gathered had helped lead to strikes that neutralized the threat.
Path to intelligence role
I met with Major Y at a base in the South. He spoke about his background and operations with the directness and the passion of a professional soldier who takes his work seriously. He has done this for a long time. Today, he resides in central Israel with his family.
He was still in uniform and ready to go back to fight his country’s enemies. Working in an elite intelligence unit, he’s one of those veterans of Israel’s wars who work quietly in the shadows alongside the troops to keep his people safe.Born in the US, the intelligence officer made aliyah in the early 2000s.
“I spent two years preparing for army service, was drafted to Givati, and was a fighter, commander, and officer. I spent some time in Gaza during those years. I was first there in 2007 after Hamas took over from Fatah,” he recounted.
After leaving the army, he moved to work in another part of Israel’s defense and security establishment, where he learned Arabic. “In parallel to that, I continued as a reservist and became a company commander in the reserves in the infantry and took part in Operation Protective Edge in 2014.”
With a decade of experience in the army and other state security work, Major Y decided to transfer from his unit and try out for the 504th. He went through a selection process and joined the unit.
“This unit is a human intelligence unit that works closely with Military Intelligence,” he said. “The Intelligence Directorate is split into intelligence gathering, investigation, and operations.”
He noted that there are three key units in this area. Unit 8200 focuses on collecting signal intelligence, or SIGINT. Unit 9900 is tasked with visual intelligence, or VISINT. And 504 focuses on human intelligence, or HUMINT. In the past, the IDF has said that 8200 is the largest of these three units.
Unit 504 has received increased attention since the Israel-Hamas war began. It has operated on various fronts, including Gaza and Lebanon.
“Members of Unit 504 are embedded with battalions in the field, gathering intelligence from the combat zone, and they are also skilled in on-site interrogations of enemy combatants, including critically wounded ones. In recent years, they have successfully recruited agents against Hezbollah without setting foot on Lebanese soil,” Ynet noted in October 2024.
“Unit 504 has not been as active in Gaza in recent years,” it added. The Jerusalem Post reported last year that prior to October 7, the unit had left much of its intelligence gathering to the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency). That changed after October 7.
As soon as the terrorist attacks occurred, Unit 504 built a makeshift southern headquarters, doubled the size of its ranks, and reinvested deeply into Gaza, the Post said in November 2023. Major Y said the unit is the center of the IDF’s efforts to gather intelligence from people – from afar or up close.
Major Y worked on his Arabic after joining the unit and went through a training process. Not all the members of the 504th need to learn Arabic; some are native speakers.
Hamas assault and what followed
On October 7, the major was called up like hundreds of thousands of soldiers. He was active along the border and witnessed the horrors of the Hamas attack. This motivated what came next, he recalled.
“After the first few days of helping on the Gaza envelope, we began preparations for the ground maneuver.” He noted that his unit is divided up such that there is a part of it that is a field investigative team. “Every unit that is part of the ground offensive receives someone from the 504th. I was attached to the Nahal Infantry Brigade.”
Following October 7, the IDF deployed numerous brigades around Gaza to prepare for the ground offensive. The Nahal Brigade was part of the 162nd Division, which was deployed north of Gaza. Its task was to head south into the enclave when the invasion began.
This meant passing through the windswept shores of northern Gaza, which consist of open, flat fields and sandy areas.
He recalled going through Al-Atatra and then Beit Lahiya in the enclave’s north. Then he went into the Shati camp, a Gazan refugee camp near the beach. In fact, shati means “beach.” “Those were the first two and a half weeks of October to November 2023, and then we went into Jabalya.”
In the first battle for Jabalya, the major recalled that a company of Nahal soldiers was going down an alleyway when suddenly there was an explosion.
“I ran to help get the wounded out, and there was an active firefight. While we were getting the wounded and fallen out, I was wounded by a piece of shrapnel from a grenade.” Maj. Shay Shamriz, a company commander in the Nahal Brigade’s 931st Battalion, was killed along with Capt. (res.) Shaul Greenglick, also from the 931st. Nine other soldiers were wounded.
“This was the first time I was wounded. We were in the middle of this firefight because there had been an ambush there.” Although wounded by the shrapnel from the grenade, the major remained until the others were evacuated.His injury was less serious, he said.
“I walked to the doctor and was evacuated to the hospital via Unit 669 and one of their helicopters.” He was taken to Ichilov Hospital, where he called his wife. She went to visit with their newborn child. Due to the war, he had missed the birth of his new son.
Ten days later, and after surgery, Major Y was back in combat. Before returning to the war, he was able to make a birthday party for his eldest child.
For most of the past year and a half, Y had been in the reserves in Gaza. He served in various other operations in Gaza, including the operation around Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, which Hamas has used for terrorist purposes.
By May 2024, the major was still attached to the Nahal Brigade to help collect intelligence. The brigade was sent into Rafah along with the 162nd.
“On June 16 in Rafah, we were sweeping houses looking for terrorists. We were searching for terrorist infrastructure, such as tunnels and other threats. There was another explosive device that went off.” St.-Sgt. Tzur Avraham was killed in the blast, and three other soldiers, including Major Y, were wounded.
“I took a piece of shrapnel in the neck. That was a life-threatening injury; I was considered critically wounded,” he said.
The intelligence officer had been hit with shrapnel in many parts of his body. “I was evacuated by the 669th to Shaare Zedek Medical Center. I called my wife and told her, ‘I’m in a hospital closer to home this time.’
“When I got to the hospital, one of the protocols was a full-body CT scan, and they discovered a piece of shrapnel in my brain.”
The shrapnel had managed to get under his helmet and become lodged near the center of his brain.
The major said that he was able to speak to a friend who is a physician. “He rushed to the hospital when he heard about my situation; the surgeons were discussing whether to take out the shrapnel or not, and they ended up leaving it in the brain.”
Y noted that when a person suffers an injury like this, the doctors can insert a camera to see the situation. He called what happened "miraculous."
He added, “The shrapnel sits a millimeter above an important artery. I was in intensive care for a few days. I don’t like being in hospitals, so I left quickly. I had the surgery to remove the shrapnel from my neck.” He suffered from headaches for a time. “I was totally good to go after a while.”
Wounded and back in combat
He could have stayed home, but Y felt a responsibility to continue his service. It wouldn’t be easy to get back to the front, though.
The army had lowered his medical profile due to his injury. He was now a “28” and would need to be more than a 70 to get back into combat duty. “I had to fight to increase it [the number]. Not everyone believes you when you have shrapnel in the brain,” the officer said with a kind of smile.
“After doctors’ visits and bureaucracy, I got my [army] profile back up. When things blew up in Lebanon in the fall of 2024, around the end of October, I got my profile back and went back into full combat reserve service.”
Y is proud of his service and spoke with conviction about going back to the front. He has a unique and important role with an extensive background. He is also deeply grateful to his wife, who has been at home with the kids while he has been off at war.
“They have been through a lot. My whole family understands. My brothers served in combat; we are all in this together, and we all understand the importance of the mission and defending our country.”
He said that it’s crucial to go back. “If one of us doesn’t go back, it has a negative effect on others. And if they see me going back, it has an important effect on resolve. It’s important to serve the country; it’s part of my identity.”
Y explained that he’s not the only one he knows who went back after being wounded multiple times. This is the iron will that has enabled Israel to keep fighting for 20 months. It’s about going back and never quitting.
Boots on the ground
In his part of the 504th, the field investigators are mainly reservists. They come to the unit with skills and maturity. Being older in combat is also important when attached to infantry soldiers, like those in Nahal, who are younger and have just been trained and called up. As a veteran who has been around the block, the major said that other soldiers feel they can turn to him.
“This is one of the most intense and difficult parts of their lives. There are guys that I went through things with, these young men in combat. And to this day, they call me up about different things in their lives. You need a certain maturity and psychological profile to do this type of work.”
The work of the 504th has been essential in this war. In one incident, the major recalled that one battalion in Nahal had captured around 80 people in Jabalya in December 2023. He had arrived to help sort out who might be terrorists and who were not. “We release the civilians, and we interview the terrorists in the field.”
After the field interviews, the suspected terrorists are sent back for further interrogation. During an interview, one of the captured men was identified as a member of Hamas’s elite Nukhba units.
“From that information, we were able to provide details that led Nahal to change its plan and tactics in that sector by learning about IEDs [improvised explosive devices], tunnels, how the enemy force is set up, and what kind of ambushes we might expect.”
A year later, back in Jabalya, he recalled the incident where the PIJ terrorist was captured and gave up information about the location of a Hamas ambush. When suspected terrorists give information, it is cross-referenced using other methods.
The IDF has various technologies, such as drones, that can aid in this effort. “There are types of information where you’re not going to take a chance. For instance, if someone says a house is booby-trapped, you can also send in drones, dogs, or other methods,” the major said.
Nuances in Gaza
The war in Gaza has been surprising. During the initial invasion, before large areas were damaged in the fighting, Y was shocked by how similar some parts of the enclave near the beach resemble parts of Tel Aviv. It’s not what people imagine a refugee camp to look like, he said.
“It was a fine place to live. Some people even thought it was nicer than where we lived in Israel.”
It was no prison, he said. People had a standard of living similar to Eastern Europe, not super wealthy but not squalor.
There is a culture of hatred in Gaza, he said. He reads Arabic and noted the number of antisemitic books. The soldiers found copies of Mein Kampf and saw Hamas propaganda posters and graffiti.
“Even if someone is not in Hamas, you’ll find all the Hamas literature and religious stuff and military books [in their homes],” he said.
“I think that is one thing that surprised us. The normalization of the hatred was also normal. People aren’t going out to fight because they don’t have money; it’s an ideology.”
The war in Gaza that unfolded after October 7 was different than when he had served there in 2007 and 2014. Those were limited conflicts. Over time, he has seen Hamas degraded in many ways, and it is ground down by the fighting. It is unable to put up as organized a fight.
“Here and there, they manage to put up a fight in certain locations; it’s not the same resistance as at the beginning.” The motivation of the enemy has gone down, and it is also clear they are having trouble getting their new recruits to stand and fight. Nevertheless, Hamas continues to function as a guerrilla force.
The work of the 504th is complex. They have to collect information in the field, sometimes under fire. It’s not like sitting in an air-conditioned room where an interrogator or investigator might have all the time in the world. One might be conducting an interview with a suspected terrorist in a house that could be hit by an RPG (rocket-propelled grenade).
“That presents its own challenges. Also, it makes it harder on the person you are questioning; he is in that same situation with you.”
However, war has its idiosyncrasies. The major recalled having coffee with people in Gaza.
Coffee in Gaza
“You may be sitting with some grandma, and she’s telling you about life in Gaza over coffee. It’s not part of my job description, but it helps me understand the place and the people. One thing that makes me good at my job is that I am interested in what life was like there before the war and how the Gazans view the universe.”
Major Y pointed out one interesting division of society he saw in the enclave. There are the Gazans whose roots go back long before 1948, and there are those called “refugees” who arrived in 1948 from areas that became Israel.
The original Gazans call the new arrivals “refugees,” even though they have now been there for generations. The leadership of Hamas mostly came from the refugee camps. Yahya Sinwar and his brother, for instance, came from Khan Yunis.
Pre- and post-1948 Gazans
There are cultural differences between those who arrived in 1948 and the estimated 35% of Gazans whose roots precede 1948. Major Y believes that the pre-1948 Gazans are generally less inclined to be involved in terrorism. The terrorists mainly come from the refugee camps.
This explains, to some extent, why Hamas has been able to hold on to the area called the “central camps” in Gaza. This includes Nuseirat, Bureij, Maghazi, and Deir el-Balah in central Gaza. The IDF has never taken over these areas.
Gazans say that Hamas has ruined their lives, the officer said. “They view the time before Hamas and the war as a kind of heaven.”
The terrorist group brought the hell of war. The people would like to see someone other than Hamas in power. “People like me in this position, we have hundreds of hours of face time with the other side,” said Major Y.
For Israel’s security system, the 504th is very important because it gathers the badly needed human intelligence. The conversations and investigations are producing important results. The unit strengthens Israel.
The 504th has helped Israel recover from the impact of Oct. 7, and it is showing how crucial on-the-ground work is. Technology can only do so much.
The 504th continues to grow as a result of the war, and it is now run by a brigadier general, illustrating the confidence the IDF has in expanding this unit.