When IDF Special Forces go on covert operations, they receive crucial information from the special operations officers at the situation room. The Judea and Samaria Division’s five special operations officers talk about their challenging jobs and sleepless nights.

Tuesday, July 26, 2016, 9:55pm: The phone in the Eztion Brigade’s situation room is ringing. An intelligence officer is on the line. “There is an indication that the terrorist has arrived at the destination,” he reports to the territorial brigade’s special operations officer, Lt. P.

Within 20 minutes, we had forces inside the village,” Lt. P. recalls. “I sent ten different units into Surif, among them were five Special Forces units that were scrambled to the area: The Border Police’s counter-terrorism unit (Yamam), Duvdevan, and others. This was the beginning of a procedure known as ‘pressure cooker’ (code name for surrounding a terrorist who barricaded himself in a house). The adrenaline was insane: Sky-high excitement as we were all watching on the monitors. I organized the forces around the house. The village was still quiet. All of a sudden, we found ourselves in a state of crazy uncertainty. It turned out that the terrorist wasn’t there. For a week, information was flowing to us that he was moving between the villages in the Hebron and Etzion area. We had concrete information that he was planning to carry out a shooting attack in the immediate future, and all of a sudden he went missing on us. Israel Defense Forces

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Featured Image – Left to right: P. from the Eztion Brigade, E. from the Ephraim Brigade, R, from the Binyamin Brigade, S. from the Menashe Brigade, and S. from the Yehudo Brigade (Photo: Alex Kolomoisky) – Ynet News