IDF to expand secretive human intelligence ‘Unit 504’ after significant contributions to war success

After years of operating in the shadows, the activities of the IDF Intelligence Directorate’s “Unit 504” have become so critical to the army’s success that it announced a significant expansion of its operations on Tuesday.

In peacetime, the secretive Unit 504 works completely under the radar. As the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) human intelligence unit, it serves as the IDF's counterpart to similar units in the Mossad and Shin Bet.

Unit 504's motto is taken from the Bible: “To explore and spy out the country and overthrow it,” 1 Chronicles 19:3 (NIV). Its symbol is a stylized version of the biblical 12 spies returning from Canaan, carrying a branch of grapes.

Unit 504 officers are primarily responsible for recruiting and running secret agents in Israel’s neighboring countries to assist IDF operations.

However, since the war began on Oct. 7, 2023, Unit 504’s highly trained officers, who are fluent in Arabic, have accompanied troops into the depths of the Gaza Strip and beyond the borders of Lebanon and Syria.

Whenever terrorists are captured in the field, one of the first individuals to speak with them is a field interrogator from Unit 504. Throughout the fighting, these investigations have yielded immediate and valuable operational intelligence.

After an initial interrogation, captured terrorists are transferred to facilities in Israel, where they are investigated further by Unit 504’s special facility interrogators.

“300 terrorists from all the terrorist organizations in the Gaza Strip were interrogated and gave up the locations of underground terrorist tunnels, warehouses and weapons, along with exposing the enemy's methods of operation, and the enemy's assimilation efforts within the civilian population,” the IDF stated.

Here, the once-secretive unit received the most media exposure, as video footage from some investigations drew massive attention online.

Among many examples, interrogators from Unit 504 revealed admissions by terrorists who raped Israeli women during the Hamas terror attack on Oct. 7, or who acknowledged that the al-Ahli Hospital blast was not caused by the IDF.

In the northern sector, Unit 504 participated in the capture and interrogation of a Syrian spy working for Iran.

Since the war, the unit also re-activated a dedicated agent operation front for the Gaza Strip after closing it over a decade ago. In many instances it has acted as the IDF's liaison to the civilian population, urging evacuations of certain areas through loudspeaker announcements, fliers and phone calls.

“Throughout the fighting, the unit's intelligence collection and influence center operates with a wide variety of tools and methods for four main goals: ground support, intelligence to mark targets, influence and leadership of the effort to evacuate the population [to the] south of the Gaza Strip,” the IDF said.

“Unit 504 has made over 30,000 calls in a short time, sent over ten million text messages, sent over nine million recorded messages, as well as scattered four million flyers and leaflets from the air and the ground calling on the population to evacuate.”

The IDF announced that it will begin a recruitment drive to significantly expand the unit in light of its recent successes and new opportunities created by the war, including in countries “in the second circle,” those beyond Israel’s immediate neighbors.

The expansion could double the number of “operators” who are running the secret agents, as well as massively increase its intelligence collection area.

In recognition of its successes, the term of the Unit 504 commander was extended, and he was promoted to the rank of brigadier general.