99th Infantry Division (Israel)

The 99th is one of the Israel Defense Forces’ fighting field divisions. The Institute for National Security Studies lists it among six or seven such divisions, alongside the 36th, 162nd, 98th, 146th, 252nd, and elements of the 210th Divisions.[1] Its intended role is to integrate ground maneuver, firepower, intelligence, engineering, armor, and supporting air assets into a formation able to operate across different arenas.[2][3]

The division is also known as Bazak, meaning “Lightning.” The IDF describes it as a multidimensional infantry-and-fire division established to adapt the Ground Forces to changing battlefield challenges and give the General Staff greater flexibility to initiate offensive operations in different theaters.[2] The formation is therefore associated both with a changing collection of brigades and specialist units and with an operational concept emphasizing speed, coordination, and combined capabilities.

The division’s importance became especially visible during the Israel-Hamas War. Four IDF divisions—the 36th, 162nd, 252nd, and 99th—were deployed in the ground invasion of northern Gaza, a concentration that INSS compared with the number of divisions used against the entire Egyptian army in either the Six-Day War or the Yom Kippur War.[1] The 99th subsequently operated in central and northern Gaza and held portions of the Netzarim Corridor during successive deployments.[4][5]

The IDF established the 99th Division in 2020 under its Tnufa, or “Momentum,” multiyear plan. The military connected its creation to the broader “Victory Concept” and described it as the first division established under the Ground Forces.[2][6] The formation followed a decision to dismantle an older Central Command division and create a unit considered better suited to modern combat.[7][8]

The IDF also presented the formation as an upgraded successor to Reserve Division 340, which it said was removed from the order of battle after 46 years. Its account characterized Division 340 as a rapid formation with mobility and multidimensional capabilities but gave little additional history.[9]

Early planning treated the 99th as a multi-arena formation. It was expected to remain subordinate to the Ground Forces during peacetime and training and pass to the relevant regional command during wartime.[7][10] The IDF placed it under the Ground Forces’ Integrated Maneuver Array.[2]

A 2020 report identified Brigadier General Avi Rosenfeld as the division’s first commander. Rosenfeld had served in Sayeret Shaldag, commanded Nahal’s reconnaissance battalion, and led the northern brigade of the Gaza Division.[8] At that time, the government and cabinet had not formally approved the Momentum plan, and parts of its implementation remained dependent on funding.[8] By the division’s first full-scale war exercise in December 2022, Brigadier General Barak Hiram was its commander.[11] Brigadier General Yoav Brunner was identified as commander in September 2025.[5]

The initial design emphasized combat in fortified areas. Infantry and fire units were to cooperate with armor and commandos, supported by organic mobility and capabilities for exposing and destroying enemy positions.[2] Early accounts associated the formation with Kfir, reserve paratroopers, commandos, armor, the Multidimensional Unit, engineering, drones, battlefield intelligence, electronic warfare, cyber elements, artillery, and air-delivered fire.[7][10]

Published force lists varied as the division developed. A 2020 account listed the Ghost Unit, Commando Brigade, 646th Reserve Paratroopers Brigade, 179th Reserve Armored Brigade, and Kfir Brigade.[10] A 2022 report associated the division with four brigades, the Multidimensional Unit, Yahalom, reconnaissance elements, paratroopers, artillery, the Oketz canine unit, Duvdevan, and Air Force assets.[12] Another 2022 description listed Kfir, the reserve Yiftach commando brigade, Reserve Paratroopers Brigade 646, an armored brigade, Fire Brigade Headquarters 990, and the IDF airlift and training center.[11] These accounts describe different stages and missions rather than a single permanent order of battle.

The 99th’s defining feature is its effort to bring different capabilities together within one operational framework. Its design combined infantry and armored forces with engineering, reconnaissance, intelligence, communications, cyber, drones, artillery, and air support. A 2022 account characterized most of its brigades as light and fast, with relatively few heavy personnel carriers and advanced technology intended to support movement and logistics under fire.[11]

Its best-known specialist formation is the Multidimensional Unit, also called Rafaim or the Ghost Unit. Created in 2019 under the Momentum plan, the unit was transferred from the 98th Division to the 99th.[3] Accounts of its formation describe a combination of elite infantry, armored elements, C4I, intelligence, Air Force personnel, the Yahalom engineering unit, and Golani reconnaissance members.[3]

The Ghost Unit has been described as using drones, precision mortars, tanks, intelligence, communications, and air support close to frontline forces.[13] This model is intended to shorten the interval between detecting a threat and acting against it. One account described the approach as an effort “to close ‘sensor-shooter’ loops” and accelerate action against enemy capabilities.[14]

The broader concept was tied to former Chief of Staff Aviv Kochavi’s military program and the Momentum plan. Intelligence and target information were to be moved closer to frontline units and shared digitally so that ground and supporting forces could coordinate more rapidly.[12][14] A 2022 exercise near the Tze’elim Ground Forces training base included coordination with helicopters, fighter aircraft, and a C-130 logistics drop.[12]

The division’s engineering capacity also developed during this period. In December 2022, Reserve Engineering Battalion 710 joined under the reserve armor formation Ra’am. Its stated missions included sustained combat engineering, destroying enemy infrastructure, neutralizing observation posts, and clearing mines.[15]

During its first months, the division trained in the Golan Heights, the Jordan Valley, and Tze’elim. The IDF described headquarters and battalion exercises alongside individual training, with reserve personnel drawn from commando, infantry, and armor forces.[6]

In December 2022, the division conducted its first division-level war exercise, Ruach Habazak (“Lightning Wind”). The five-day exercise involved regular and reserve units and focused on a possible northern-front war involving Lebanon and Syria. It tested logistics under combat conditions, detection and attack capabilities, and coordination with Fire Brigade Headquarters 990 and the Multidimensional Unit. The report described it as the division’s final certification for full operational readiness.[11]

A separate report said the drill simulated a sudden outbreak of fighting on Israel’s northern frontier. Conscripts and reservists practiced responding across several fronts, with emphasis on defending against a border attack and moving logistics toward the front. The IDF said the exercise completed the process of preparing the division for a future conflict involving Hezbollah in Lebanon or Iran-backed groups in Syria.[16]

On October 7, 2023, members of the Ghost Unit fought near Re’im, where its commander, Colonel Roi Levy, was killed in battle. Unit members also helped liberate Kibbutz Be’eri, and three other members were reported killed in later battles.[13]

The IDF inquiry into the Battle of Be’eri reports that the 99th Division established itself at the kibbutz at 16:15 and began organizing command and control. By 18:00, about 700 IDF soldiers and security personnel were operating in the area, and the evacuation of residents had begun that afternoon.[17] Ynet’s account similarly reported that Hiram organized the forces at 16:15, when roughly 700 personnel were present.[18]

The General Staff and Southern Command assigned Hiram to command the sector and then Be’eri. The inquiry assessed that his assignment improved operational effectiveness, clarified the situation, coordinated the forces, and marked a turning point in regaining operational control.[17] Ynet reported that Hiram had arrived in the border area on his own initiative, was assigned responsibility for the Netivot sector, and later went to Be’eri as the fighting intensified. It also recorded tactical shortcomings, including the failure to open an evacuation route earlier and the failure to establish an aerial-strike cell within the division.[18]

The inquiry concluded that the IDF had failed in its mission to protect Be’eri’s residents. It also highlighted the bravery of residents and the kibbutz’s civilian rapid response team, whose actions it said stabilized the defense during the first hours and prevented the attack from spreading to other parts of the community.[17]

The battle included a hostage crisis at Pessi Cohen’s house. Hiram approved the use of tank fire, and the inquiry, as reported by Ynet, considered the decision to fire four hollow shells reasonable as a means of pressuring the terrorists. Three shells were directed toward a nearby path and one toward the roof. The account said the decision was made primarily by Yamam commanders managing negotiations and that no commander ordered tank fire into the building for the purpose of killing the terrorists.[18]

A later report referred to 13 victims at the house and said one had been struck, although it remained uncertain whether that person died from a tank-shell fragment.[19] In July 2024, Hiram was selected to leave the 99th and become commander of the Gaza Division, replacing Avi Rosenfeld, who had commanded that division on October 7 and announced his resignation.[19]

In December 2023, reserve commando, paratrooper, and armor forces under the 99th completed an operation in the Bakshi area south of Gaza City. The IDF described the objectives as targeting Hamas’s Nuseirat Battalion, destroying underground infrastructure and weapons, and establishing operational control in central Gaza between the north of the Strip and the central camps.[20] JNS reported that the division moved from the southern part of Gaza City toward central Gaza after the operation. The IDF attributed to its forces the deaths of hundreds of terrorists, the destruction of tunnel shafts, and the discovery of weapons, motorcycles, and weapons concealed in children’s toys.[21]

By January 2024, the division was operating in central Gaza. Yiftach Brigade troops raided an underground vault compound and reported finding three safes containing about 100,000 shekels, checks, financial documents, and bonds valued at millions of dollars. A commander said records indicated that much of the documented trade occurred from October 2 to 5, 2023. Brigade 646 troops also found a rocket-production site in Nuseirat using civilian machinery adapted for weapons manufacture.[22]

In April 2024, Reserve Division 99 completed a roughly week-long transfer of responsibility for the Netzarim Corridor from Division 162. Its forces included the Yiftach and Carmeli infantry brigades, armored and engineering battalions, and the Multidimensional Unit.[23] Tasks included defense, intelligence-based raids against terrorist targets, impeding rocket launches, and preventing displaced Gazans from moving north. Two reservists were killed and two wounded in an explosion during the transition; the circumstances remained under investigation when the report appeared.[23]

The corridor became a recurring area of responsibility. A July 2024 report said the 99th controlled the route south of Gaza City, with units rotating in and out. It described the corridor as stretching from Israel to the Mediterranean and named the reserve 8th Armored Brigade and Alexandroni Infantry Brigade among units that had operated there.[4] In December, JNS described the paved east-west route as 6.5 kilometers long and reported that the division maintained operational control while conducting defensive and targeted offensive missions. The report also said many troops securing it had accumulated more than 300 days of reserve duty across deployments.[24]

During June 2024, the IDF said Multidimensional Unit forces and combat teams from the Carmeli and 679th Brigades completed an operation in Zeitoun and Sabra, killing dozens of terrorists and destroying about 50 sites it characterized as terrorist infrastructure. With Yahalom engineering troops, division forces also destroyed a tunnel near Juhor ad-Dik that the IDF described as approximately 800 meters long and 30 meters underground.[25]

In July, forces under the division found and destroyed a tunnel approximately one kilometer long, with branches used for underground movement. The IDF also reported an operation against a booby-trapped mosque and estimated that its troops had killed about 100 terrorists and destroyed more than 100 structures and sites, including weapons stores, observation posts, launch pits, and tunnel routes.[4]

The division also operated in Gaza City. Ynet reported that a July operation led by the Commando Brigade and the 99th was based on intelligence concerning Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad infrastructure, weapons, terrorists, and detention and interrogation rooms, including activity in the area of the UNRWA headquarters.[26] After a separate two-week operation in Shejaiya, the IDF sent the 99th into neighborhoods around central Gaza City. The IDF said troops found explosive drones, grenades, explosive devices, sniper equipment, mortar shells, rockets, and RPGs at the UNRWA headquarters.[27]

Later that month, combat teams from the 3rd Brigade, 8th Brigade, Commando Brigade, and Multidimensional Unit operated under the 99th in central Gaza City. The IDF said troops found weapons, ammunition, tactical equipment, and intelligence material and reported that they had killed more than 150 terrorists, destroyed over 100 structures described as terrorist infrastructure, and uncovered an underground workshop during the preceding week.[28]

The 99th continued operating in Gaza in 2025. A September 2 report identified Brigadier General Yoav Brunner as division commander and said the formation had held parts of the Netzarim Corridor during the preceding year and a half. It had most recently fought in Zeitoun, near Gaza City. The IDF said the division and the Israel Security Agency had killed dozens of terrorists operating against Israeli troops in northern and central Gaza during the preceding month.[5]

A September 16 statement said the 99th was operating in the northern Gaza Strip, while the 98th, 162nd, and 36th Divisions were expanding operations into Gaza City as part of Gideon’s Chariots II.[29] In July, JNS reported that reservists of the 99th “Ha’Bazak” Infantry Division had returned to Gaza for the first time since the start of the ground invasion on October 27, 2023, for operations against terrorist groups in northern and central Gaza.[30]

The IDF described the July deployment as the division’s fourth Gaza operation since the start of the Swords of Iron War. Three brigades were serving under it: the Northern Gaza Brigade, the 646th Brigade, and the 990th Brigade. Their stated tasks included locating and dismantling military infrastructure above and below ground and conducting defensive missions for Israeli communities near Gaza.[31]

In October 2025, the IDF reported that the division had completed a four-month mission in northern Gaza after seven regular and reserve brigades had operated under its command. The 252nd Division assumed responsibility for the sector. The IDF said the 99th had dismantled hundreds of weapons-storage sites, observation posts, combat compounds, and other infrastructure; participated in establishing the Yellow Line; and assisted humanitarian activity in northern Gaza.[32]

The same account attributed to the division’s fire effort the deaths of hundreds of Hamas members, including five battalion commanders and nine company commanders and deputies. It separately reported that engineers dismantled more than one kilometer of underground routes.[32]

At a heritage event in July 2026, the IDF described the division as a multi-arena formation whose brigades had served across combat theaters. Central Command chief Avi Bluth said the division had served as a headquarters in offensive and defensive battles in Gaza, while its brigades maneuvered in the south and north and operated in northern Samaria. Brunner was identified as commander.[33]

The IDF said the division was then in its fifth Gaza activation, with forces deployed near the Yellow Line and conducting offensive activity between that line and the border.[33] A war-diary entry dated October 14, 2026, said the division had completed its mission in northern Gaza and reported more than 100 terrorists killed and approximately eight kilometers of underground routes neutralized. The entry did not identify a successor formation.[34]

The 99th Division represents an effort to organize ground forces around integrated capabilities and flexible deployment. Its creation under the Momentum plan, association with the Multidimensional Unit, and training in coordination among infantry, armor, engineering, intelligence, artillery, and air assets reflect the stated goal of shortening the distance between battlefield information and action.[2][12]

The division was designed for multi-arena use rather than attachment to one permanent front. Early planning cited Gaza and southern Lebanon, while later accounts described the division or its brigades operating in several theaters.[7][33] Its changing force lists also illustrate the distinction between an institutional concept and the mission-dependent composition of a field formation.

Its wartime record has been closely tied to the Israel-Hamas War, including the response on October 7, the Battle of Be’eri, operations in Gaza, and responsibility for portions of the Netzarim Corridor. The use of four divisions in the initial northern Gaza invasion also placed the 99th within one of the IDF’s largest concentrations of ground forces in decades.[1]

The most publicly scrutinized episode connected to the division is the hostage crisis at Pessi Cohen’s house. The reported IDF inquiry considered the use of four tank shells reasonable as a means of pressuring the terrorists and said commanders did not order fire into the building for the purpose of killing them.[18] A later report referred to 13 victims and said it remained uncertain whether one person died from a tank-shell fragment.[19]

Many other operational details are attributed military claims rather than independently established findings. These include the numbers of terrorists killed, structures destroyed, and tunnels found or dismantled, as well as descriptions of the UNRWA headquarters, a mosque, and other civilian sites as terrorist infrastructure or weapons locations.[4][27] The claims are presented as IDF findings or as reports based on IDF statements, rather than as independently corroborated totals.[28][5]

The same limitation applies to the large casualty and infrastructure figures reported for the division’s 2025 and 2026 operations. These remain official operational assessments in the cited material.[32][34]