Even on a day of poor visibility, on a cruise this morning off the coast of Gaza aboard the Navy's 916th party "Dvora," columns of black smoke and white smoke could be clearly seen through the fog from the Shati area near the coast, indicating the incessant attacks by the navy and air force in the northern Gaza Strip.
While we are still off the coast of Israel, we sail relatively close to the Israeli coast, not far from Zikim Beach, where Hamas terrorists managed to infiltrate on the bloody October 7, murder Israelis hiding in a shelter and continue to Kibbutz Zikim. Unlike the ground forces, which had to deal with 3,000 terrorists crossing the Gaza border at once and took many hours to respond and take over the area, the navy's response was very quick and effective.
Our correspondent, Lilach Shoval, on the Navy ship,
At around 6:30 A.M., Israeli navy observers spotted seven boats carrying about 7 terrorists making their way quickly from the Gaza Strip, very close to the coast, toward Israel. This was after the terrorists tried to damage the IAF's surveillance devices in order to make it difficult for the forces. From the moment of identification until the "bee" at sea opened fire at the terrorists, only about two minutes passed.
A glimpse of the Navy: Shooting of an INS Arrow ship // Photo: IDF Spokesperson
Other vessels were dispatched, destroying 3 boats while at sea, but four more almost reached shore. Two of them were destroyed on the beach, but about 11 terrorists eventually managed to enter Israeli territory. At the time of the incident, the navy managed to call the alert squad at Kibbutz Zikim, which together with the Golani force managed to eliminate some of the terrorists. Two terrorists tried to return to shore and were eliminated, and the last two were eliminated by Magellan fighters only five or six days later.
Dealing with divers
Since October 7, Israeli naval forces have been deployed in front of the Gaza Strip with 7 times as many vessels as usual. Among other things, a Sa'ar 6 missile ship regularly patrols near the Tamar platform to prevent damage to it, and at the same time other missile boats, as well as "Dvoras", special forces of Shayetet 13, and more, carry out extensive defensive and offensive activity vis-à-vis the Gaza Strip.
A female fighter on one of the Israeli navy ships, photo: IDF Spokesperson
In the month since the beginning of the fighting, Israeli naval forces have fired thousands of shells at Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip, mainly in support of the ground forces of the 162nd and 36th Divisions, which are already stationed on the Gaza coast, in full encirclement of the Gaza Strip. Yesterday, too, while we were aboard the Bee, we watched the firing from the 76th cannon of the INS Arrow missile ship at Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip, in support of the 401st Armored Brigade.
The cruise this morning off the coast of the Gaza Strip was carried out more than 6 kilometers from the coast, in order to distance us from the anti-tank range of Hamas, which has tried more than once to hit a naval vessel with the understanding that hitting a vessel would be a great achievement for it. During the cruise we also watched the firing of a "depth" bomb exploding with a loud noise with a nod to the sky, aimed at dealing with the threat of divers who sometimes arrive in "scooters" (underwater vehicles) in order to invade Israeli territory.
On our way back from the Gaza Strip, we watched another bee sailing ahead of us suddenly open massive fire towards the sea. The bee commanders explained that apparently a suspicious object was identified in the water, possibly an explosive barrel, and that the purpose of firing at the water was to prevent that suspicious object from reaching the shores of Israel.
The Israeli navy's missile boats were also deployed in the Red Sea area, following additional threats, Photo: IDF Spokesperson
The Israeli navy reports that Hamas' naval force, which numbered several dozen terrorists at the beginning of the fighting, suffered a severe blow, but at the same time is still functioning to one degree or another, and therefore preparations are being made for additional possible infiltrations from the sea. In the supermarine sphere, the navy says that Israel's superiority is absolute, but underwater, despite the systems that in most cases detect infiltration attempts, the situation is more challenging, and therefore the great vigilance of the forces.
At the same time, the navy is also deployed with greatly reinforced forces on the Gaza-Egypt border, in order to prevent smuggling from Egypt to the Gaza Strip, or the escape of terrorists, even senior officials, from Gaza to Egypt by sea.
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