Yamas (Israel Border Police Unit)

Yamas combines the Border Police’s policing role with specialized undercover counterterrorism capabilities, including intelligence gathering, arrests, responses to disturbances, and operations against armed threats.[3] It belongs to the broader category of mista’arvim, Israeli undercover units whose operatives disguise themselves as Arabs to blend into local populations.[6] Concealment, local familiarity, intelligence, and cooperation with other forces allow small teams to approach suspects without immediately revealing their identity.[3]

Its regional organization reflects different operational settings: densely populated neighborhoods in Jerusalem, urban operations in the West Bank — known by its original, indigenous Jewish name of Judea and Samaria — and border security and crime prevention in the south.[3][5] A 2022 organizational description identified four units: Yamas Nationwide, also described as the Border Police tactical unit; Yamas Jerusalem; Yamas South; and Yamas Judea and Samaria.[5] Hundreds of personnel served across these units, conducting dozens of operational activities each month at the time described.[5]

Yamas is one specialist component of a much larger corps rather than a separate police service.[2] The Border Police’s official description listed it among 68 diverse units, alongside operational battalions and other specialists, within a force of approximately 8,000 officers deployed across six districts at the time of that publication.[2]

The Border Police’s experience during the First Intifada, which began in 1987, led to the establishment of Yamas as an undercover counterterrorism capability.[2] The first three regional units were established in Gaza in 1989, Judea and Samaria in 1991, and Jerusalem in 1994.[2] These units developed gradually during the First Intifada rather than appearing simultaneously as a single regional formation.[7]

Police officer Eli Avram, a veteran of the counterterrorism unit, was assigned to establish Yamas and became its first commander in Judea and Samaria.[3] Yamas developed alongside the undercover units Duvdevan and Shimshon as the IDF and Border Police sought to reduce violence during the uprising.[3] Avram was killed in 1991 during an attempted entry into a house in eastern Jenin and was posthumously awarded the police Medal of Courage and Valor and a commendation from the Central Command chief.[3]

The southern unit traces its establishment to 1989 and initially operated in Gaza and Sinai.[8] After Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza, its operational focus shifted toward the areas around the Jordanian, Egyptian, and Gaza borders.[8] An earlier organizational description used the name Yamas Arava for a unit that had previously operated in Gaza and subsequently concentrated on intercepting terrorists attempting to enter Israel from Gaza or Egypt.[3]

Women began joining Border Police Yamas in the early 2000s, during the al-Aqsa Intifada.[9] Their recruitment broadened the kinds of cover available for intelligence work, including surveillance in situations where women could appear less conspicuous.[9] Women serving in the units described gathering intelligence before operations, arresting suspects, and helping prevent attacks.[9]

Yamas formally belongs to the Border Police while operating under Shin Bet authority.[1][3] Operational command varies by regional setting: Judea and Samaria Yamas works mainly under the IDF and Shin Bet, while Jerusalem Yamas operates within the Jerusalem District.[3][5] The Border Police in Judea and Samaria forms a sector-specialized force operating under IDF Central Command, with Yamas among the special-operations units assigned to that sector alongside Duvdevan.[10]

The nationwide unit operates throughout Israel, while Jerusalem Yamas works in the Old City and Arab communities in East Jerusalem.[5] The Judea and Samaria unit specializes in urban combat.[3] South Yamas operates along the Gaza and Egyptian borders and against crime in the Negev and southern Israel.[5] In a 2022 interview, its commander placed its strength at more than 100 undercover personnel.[8]

A published training outline describes 16 weeks of Border Police basic training, covering marksmanship, counterterrorism, explosives, communications, and fieldcraft, before candidates undergo Yamas selection.[3] The subsequent 13-week Yamas course includes weapons handling, hand-to-hand combat, urban warfare, camouflage, undercover methods, and small-unit tactics, followed by several months of training within the unit.[3] A 2022 account described the overall training period as nine months.[5] Personnel serve either in regular service or as career police officers.[3]

Selection for women has also been demanding: among one group of 20 women who reached a trial period, two or three were selected.[9] Female personnel described completing Border Police combat-infantry basic training before a several-month mista’arvim course in counterterrorism, combat in built-up areas, and undercover work.[9] Early service brought practical difficulties, including equipment that did not fit them and expectations to continue training after operations.[9]

In 2024, police changed their position on admission to the Judea and Samaria unit after a female member of the southern branch petitioned the High Court of Justice.[11] Women would be eligible if they met the same criteria as other applicants and more than one woman qualified.[11] Police cited the nature of the service, including prolonged stays in hostile territory, in explaining the conditions attached to admission.[11]

Yamas personnel use disguises, concealment, and small-team deployments to gather intelligence and approach targets without arousing suspicion.[3] In the south, examples of cover have included shepherds, camel-herd owners, shopkeepers, and smugglers.[8] Work in densely populated civilian areas requires officers to preserve their anonymity even in places where they operate repeatedly, while adapting their skills and equipment to maintain surprise.[12]

Jerusalem operations have included activity in Arab neighborhoods and monitoring roads into the city and surrounding Arab cities, including Bethlehem and Ramallah.[12] In one case, officers worked with local police for several weeks to identify youths accused of throwing Molotov cocktails and improvised explosive devices at homes and vehicles in Ma’ale HaZeitim, in the Ras al-Amud neighborhood.[12] Their preventive work also includes finding weapons and identifying potential attackers before an attack occurs.[12]

A 2017 operation in the Dheisheh refugee camp near Bethlehem illustrates the combination of intelligence and arrest work.[13] The force initially sought three people identified as central instigators of a violent disturbance, but delays and a deteriorating situation led to changes in the plan and the arrest of six people.[13] Jerusalem Yamas had carried out approximately 800 operations in the preceding year, primarily arrests and intelligence gathering, alongside weapons seizures and readiness deployments.[13]

In southern Israel, the unit’s responsibilities have included preventing attacks and infiltrations, intercepting drug smuggling from Egypt, seizing weapons smuggled from Jordan, and arresting wanted people.[8] Its commander also described cooperation with the IDF and Egyptian military against Islamic State-linked terrorists in Sinai.[8] A 2022 account reported seizures of approximately a quarter-ton of hashish and hundreds of smuggled pistols and rifles during the preceding year.[8] It also reported that drug-smuggling incidents from Egypt into Israel fell from 400 to 200 in 2021.[8]

Southern personnel have worked with the army, Shin Bet, and Southern District Police to arrest terrorism suspects and people suspected of involvement in violence during the 2021 Guardian of the Walls operation.[8] Before October 7, 2023, the southern unit’s principal work also included combating weapons smuggling, drug trafficking, and crime in the Negev, particularly in Bedouin communities.[14]

On October 7, 2023, 11 Yamas personnel were stationed at Kibbutz Nahal Oz in preparation for expected protests along the Gaza border.[15] After a local security chief directed them toward infiltrators, they split into two groups and fought terrorists both outside the kibbutz and within its residential neighborhood.[15] Together with local defenders, they stopped most of the first wave; a later wave breached the kibbutz at approximately 10 a.m.[15] Four security personnel and 13 residents were killed at Nahal Oz that day, including a Yamas member.[14][15]

Yamas also participated in major joint operations in the Tulkarem area in 2024.[4][16] During a 45-hour January operation in the Tulkarem refugee camp, its personnel worked alongside IDF reservists, Border Police, and Shin Bet personnel.[4] The combined forces searched approximately 1,000 buildings, questioned hundreds of people, arrested more than 37 wanted individuals, destroyed over 400 explosive devices, seized 27 weapons and other military equipment, and destroyed five explosives-production laboratories.[4]

An approximately 50-hour operation in Nur Shams, near Tulkarem, included Yamas, other Border Police personnel, and the Haruv, Lotar, and Duvdevan units.[16] The combined force killed 14 people identified as terrorists, detained 15 suspects, seized weapons, destroyed dozens of explosive devices, and demolished two explosives-production laboratories.[16] Nine IDF soldiers and one Border Police officer were wounded.[16]

Following October 7, South Yamas was placed operationally under IDF Southern Command and the commander of Brigade 16, with intelligence direction from the Shin Bet and Military Intelligence, as it began operations inside Gaza.[17] Its Gaza deployments included dozens of clandestine missions, intelligence collection, and locating armed Hamas terrorists ahead of or alongside IDF forces.[14] Teams included snipers, marksmen, breachers, and personnel trained for high-angle work.[17] In Gaza, they generally wore tactical uniforms rather than civilian disguises.[17]

On April 23, 2025, a mission in Shejaiya began to locate and neutralize terrorists firing at IDF forces.[14] The ensuing fighting lasted approximately five hours and killed Yamas fighter Neta Yitzhak Kahana and armored corps officer Ido Volach.[14] A further account of the mission described Yamas personnel killing three armed terrorists before the encounter in which Kahana was fatally wounded.[17]

Other Gaza missions involved locating hostages and recovering the bodies of deceased hostages.[14] One operation in al-Bureij helped army forces reach and recover hostages’ bodies.[17] Another deployment near an aid-distribution site followed intelligence that armed Hamas terrorists were shooting at people seeking food; participating personnel described killing five armed terrorists.[17]

Yamas’s distinctive contribution lies in combining undercover intelligence work with the ability to make arrests and confront armed threats in densely populated environments.[3][12] Its regional units apply that combination to different tasks, from Jerusalem neighborhood surveillance to border interdiction in the south and joint counterterrorism operations in Judea and Samaria.[5][8] Surprise and improvisation are central to the southern unit’s operational approach, expressed in its motto, “with courage and humility.”[8]

The defense of Nahal Oz demonstrated a further role for Yamas personnel: responding directly to a mass terrorist assault alongside a community’s local defenders.[15] Subsequent Gaza deployments extended the southern unit’s work into small-team operations supporting military forces, gathering intelligence, and assisting efforts to recover hostages’ bodies.[14][17]

Commemoration within the unit has also reflected the losses sustained in these operations.[14] After Neta Yitzhak Kahana’s death, his family gave personnel silver bracelets engraved with his motto, “I’ve got your back,” which the fighters subsequently adopted.[14]

Undercover policing in civilian communities has drawn criticism over the risks of mistaken identification, excessive force, and the relationship between police and Arab residents.[5] Following the March 2022 fatal shooting of Sand Salem al-Harbad during an undercover Border Police operation in Rahat, officers said he had pointed a weapon at them, while relatives and neighbors disputed their conduct.[5] The police-investigation department was investigating, and Border Police commanders publicly supported the officers; the reporting did not provide a final investigative finding.[5]

The Association for Civil Rights in Israel sought a state-comptroller review of the unit’s activity, arguing that operations inside Israel concentrated on Arab society and that the Border Police’s quasi-military character complicated relations with those communities.[5] Arab residents and an advocate also objected to plainclothes operations in Arab towns, arguing that officers should generally operate in uniform to reduce danger to residents.[5]

The 2024 admissions change followed a disputed allegation of gender-based exclusion: the petitioner said she had been barred from transferring because she was a woman, while the police response offered other considerations and did not address that testimony.[11] Public accounts of Gaza missions and casualty figures also rest substantially on interviews with participating commanders and personnel, with operational secrecy limiting the details available for independent assessment.[14][17]