The 11th Brigade (also known as the Yiftach Brigade) is a reserves unit in the

Israel Defense Forces The Israel Defense Forces (IDF; , ), alternatively referred to by the Hebrew-language acronym (), is the national military of the State of Israel. It consists of three service branches: the Israeli Ground Forces, the Israeli Air Force, and ...

, composed mainly of fighters that completed their compulsory service in the Unit 621 – 'Egoz'.

History

In the

1948 Arab–Israeli War The 1948 Arab–Israeli War, also known as the First Arab–Israeli War, followed the 1947–1948 civil war in Mandatory Palestine, civil war in Mandatory Palestine as the second and final stage of the 1948 Palestine war. The civil war becam ...

it was a Palmach

infantry Infantry, or infantryman are a type of soldier who specialize in ground combat, typically fighting dismounted. Historically the term was used to describe foot soldiers, i.e. those who march and fight on foot. In modern usage, the term broadl ...

brigade. It was formed in late April 1948 from existing Palmach battalions: the First Battalion, that resided in

Jezreel Valley The Jezreel Valley (from the ), or Marj Ibn Amir (), also known as the Valley of Megiddo, is a large fertile plain and inland valley in the Northern District (Israel), Northern District of Israel. It is bordered to the north by the highlands o ...

and the Third Battalion in the eastern valleys. In late 1948, the Second Palmach Battalion was transferred to it from the

Negev Brigade The Negev Brigade (, ''Hativat HaNegev''), originally the 12th Brigade is an Israeli Reserve duty (Israel), reserve infantry brigade under the Sinai Division, that originally served in the 1948 Arab-Israeli war. History Founding and organizatio ...

. The Palmach memorial website records 274 of its members being killed whilst in the Yiftach Brigade. In May 1949 the Palmach brigade was disbanded. This was part of a general downsizing of the IDF (9 out of 12 brigades were disbanded). It was also considered by many as part of Ben-Gurion's process of disbanding the Palmach itself.The end of the campaign against disbanding the Palmach
in the Palmach website (Hebrew). A while after that, it was re-established as a reserve unit that served in the

Gaza Strip The Gaza Strip, also known simply as Gaza, is a small territory located on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea; it is the smaller of the two Palestinian territories, the other being the West Bank, that make up the State of Palestine. I ...

frontClosing Ceremony of the Yiftach Brigade
- a report in the Israeli Armored Units memorial site (Hebrew)A history of the Yiftach Brigade
in the Israeli Armored Units memorial site (Hebrew). This is an archived copy. Th
latest version
is a bit less verbose. As an infantry brigade it also fought in the

Suez Crisis The Suez Crisis, also known as the Second Arab–Israeli War, the Tripartite Aggression in the Arab world and the Sinai War in Israel, was a British–French–Israeli invasion of Egypt in 1956. Israel invaded on 29 October, having done so w ...

and in the

Six-Day War The Six-Day War, also known as the June War, 1967 Arab–Israeli War or Third Arab–Israeli War, was fought between Israel and a coalition of Arab world, Arab states, primarily United Arab Republic, Egypt, Syria, and Jordan from 5 to 10June ...

in the Gaza Strip In 1971 the brigade was converted to an armored brigade. It fought in the Egyptian front of the

Yom Kippur War The Yom Kippur War, also known as the Ramadan War, the October War, the 1973 Arab–Israeli War, or the Fourth Arab–Israeli War, was fought from 6 to 25 October 1973 between Israel and a coalition of Arab world, Arab states led by Egypt and S ...

in 1973. After the war it was regrouped and its unit number was changed to 576. in 2006 the brigade fought in Operation Defensive Shield. In May 2014 it was disbanded.

Reestablishment

In 2016, the decision was made to reestablish the brigade as a reserves elite infantry force by transferring battalions from the 810th “Hermon” Brigade that was disbanded as part of the multi-year Gideon Plan. Nearly all of the soldiers in the brigade served as operators in the elite Egoz unit. In September 2020, the brigade transferred command to the 99th (''Reserves'') Infantry Division, where it serves as a commando reserves force. File:Moshe Kelman ii.jpg, Moshe Kelman, commander during Operation Yiftach File:Mula Cohen.jpg, Mula Cohen, commander during Operation Danny File:Gideon Eilat.jpg, Gideon Eilat commander during Operation Yoav

Organization

11th Infantry Brigade "Yiftach" ** 5037th Infantry Battalion ** 7220th Infantry Battalion ** 8226th Infantry Battalion ** (7810th) Reconnaissance Battalion ** 5011th Logistics Battalion ** Signals Company

Military operations

The Yiftach Brigade participated in the following Israeli military operations: * Operation Yiftach * Operation Yoram * Operation Danny * Operation Yoav *

Metzudat Koach Metzudat Koach () (also Nabi Yusha fort) is a Mandatory Palestine, British Mandate police fort built during the 1936–39 Arab revolt in Palestine. On the grounds of the fort are a memorial monument and a museum founded in 2014. The Metzudat ...

Memorial

The memorial for the fallen soldiers of the Yiftach Brigade is situated in the northern Negev north of

Rahat Rahat (, ) is an Arab Bedouin city in the Southern District (Israel), Southern District of Israel. In , it had a population of . As such, it is the largest Bedouin city in Israel, and the only one to have city council (Israel), city status. Ra ...

, near

Kibbutz A kibbutz ( / , ; : kibbutzim / ) is an intentional community in Israel that was traditionally based on agriculture. The first kibbutz, established in 1910, was Degania Alef, Degania. Today, farming has been partly supplanted by other economi ...

Beit Kama and Kama Junction on Road 40.

References