Each of the IDF’s commando units has its own mission, character and unique combat capabilities. But 10 years ago this week, they were brought together, forming the most classified brigade in the Israeli military. To mark the brigade’s 10th anniversary, the IDF published a special feature with the photographer who knows it best, sharing stunning moments captured on camera that at times look like scenes from a movie.
This precisely timed shot was taken during a joint evacuation drill involving the Commando School and Unit 669 in the Gaza border area. “We were extremely close to the helicopter—everything was flying around, and I could barely see what I was shooting,” recalled Sgt. First Class (Res.) N., who documents the Commando Brigade. “All the equipment the military uses—Hummers, helicopters and more—has insane power, and I love capturing it from angles that highlight that intensity. Usually, the fighters look toward the incoming helicopter, but in this case, they were understandably focused on treating their ‘wounded’ comrades.”
“I photographed these Egoz fighters at the end of the most meaningful training course I’ve ever covered—not because of how it looked, but because of the people,” said Sgt. First Class (Res.) N. “We were with them from day one, through the end of basic training and their beret march, throughout their unit training, and later during their first entry into Gaza.”
“You see them at their toughest moments and realize how much they’ve pushed themselves to reach this point—how some nearly broke but found the strength to keep going. By the time they entered the Gaza Strip, they already looked different. They were commando fighters. This particular photo was taken just a second before reaching the top of the hill at Nabi Hazuri, when they spotted their families and immediately lifted their heads.”
At the time this seemingly spontaneous photo was taken, Sgt. First Class (Res.) N. had not yet been assigned to the Commando Brigade. “The soldier standing is from Egoz,” he said. “We arrived in the Gaza border area just days after October 7, everything was still raw. He was standing there with the sign, and alongside all the devastation, there was this feeling that the IDF had arrived.”
“This photo was taken in Syria,” the photographer explained. “The background is crucial—the crates and the smoke from the explosion behind them. The crates were actually weapons stockpiles that the Syrian army transferred to the IDF, very large quantities of arms. In the background, D9 armored bulldozers and other equipment were also operating. It was an incredible moment.”
“These are three fighters from the Maglan unit, also in Syria, arriving for a ‘visit’ to the Assad army’s headquarters near Mount Druze,” the photographer recalled. As he sees it, the site offers insight into what an enemy’s operational hub looks like from the inside—from the choice of location down to details such as the flooring.
“It was the ‘blue hour’ between sunset and full darkness. We were taking part in an exercise by the brigade’s logistical support unit, during which supplies were also airdropped to the fighters. Among them were containers holding vehicle parts—the forces training on the ground had a limited amount of time to assemble them and begin moving.”
The combination of silhouettes, open parachutes and an aircraft may seem almost too perfect to be real, but the documentation team is unequivocal about staged images. “It’s important to us to reflect only authentic moments from the field,” he said. “When you see them truly inside the real situation, in a posture and environment that are not forced, that’s how you best convey what the brigade actually does.”
There is also documentation from the 2023 commando course. “The fighters here are in the final stages of the march in the Jerusalem area,” he said. “We joined them at the beginning of the night, and by then it was already 5 a.m. The fatigue doesn’t really come through in the photo, but they had definitely been through a major physical effort and were making one last push. It was the first course completion I documented with the brigade—an intense plunge into the water, but a beautiful one.”
“The photo was taken in complete darkness, just moments before the fighting began,” Sgt. First Class (Res.) N. said, describing the entry into the ground maneuver in Lebanon, which involved three units from the brigade. “I took a night vision device from one of the fighters and simply slipped it over the lens. The threads you see on it are part of a kit used for concealment.”
“The blue color comes from a smoke grenade used during a company-level exercise in the south. It created a striking combination of colors with the fighter’s charge at sunset. I have to say, the moment was documented almost by chance. In the past, I mainly focused on video. As I became more immersed in the unit, I realized there is something special about still photography, it allows you to preserve small moments that happen in a split second.”
“This circle was photographed during the commando brigade’s most recent entry into Gaza,” Sgt. First Class (Res.) N. recalled. “The fighters in it are a platoon from Maglan. Each one placed a hand on the head of the fighter next to him and blessed him before the battle, literally shouting. If I remember correctly, during that maneuver they entered Gaza, and some of the hostages were also brought back. That sense of meaning was present in that moment — everyone understood they were a small part of a story much bigger than themselves.”
“When the war began, I noticed how many fighters and commanders I had photographed who are, sadly, no longer with us,” he added. “Since then, I make sure that every fighter has at least one photo, even if it isn’t the perfect one.”