ZIKIM, Israel — Breitbart News accompanied an Israeli tactical vehicle unit on a visit to the northern border of Gaza Monday, taking in a view into the Strip, where the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) continues to fight the remnants of Hamas.
The unit, known as Yatar, is a rapid-response force that works with, but is officially outside of, the IDF. It operates off-road Maverick vehicles that can maneuver quickly through difficult terrain and are difficult for terrorists to target.
On the Lebanese border, Yatar helps patrol for infiltrations by Hezbollah terrorists across the mountainous boundary of Har (Mount) Dov and Mount Hermon, which have no fences or physical barriers.
In Gaza, Yatar helps evacuate wounded soldiers within minutes, often moving through dense urban areas that helicopters could not possibly reach.
Our journey began at Zikim Beach, where Hamas naval commandos landed on October 7th and began murdering innocent people — fishermen, swimmers, and hikers — en route to invading a nearby IDF search-and-rescue base.
The surf was very high, illustrating immediately why President Joe Biden’s deadly “floating pier” was doomed to fail.
Large waves appear at Zikim Beach, near Gaza, on November 25, 2024. (Joel Pollak / Breitbart News)
We then proceeded south, through several military checkpoints and past an area where humanitarian aid trucks waited to be allowed into the Gaza Strip. Hamas often loots the vehicles and resells the aid to desperate Gazans.
Humanitarian aid trucks gather near Gaza, November 25, 2024. (Joel Pollak / Breitbart News)
We proceeded across rocky, sandy terrain until reaching a paved military road along the fence that separates Gaza from Israel — roughly 20 feet high, topped with heavy rolls of razor wire. Hamas used special frame explosives to blast holes through the fence on October 7, taking the IDF forces by surprise.
We ascended to the top of a dune. There, empty shell casings from a variety of types of ammunition littered the ground, evidence of past battles.
My guide from Yatar cautioned me to keep my head down, as the dune was theoretically exposed to sniper fire.
A Yatar guide gestures toward the battle in Beit Lahiya from behind an embankment. November 25, 2024. (Joel Pollak / Breitbart News)
The view was sweeping, taking in all of northern Gaza — Beit Lahiya in front of us; Beit Hanoun to the east; and Jabaliya and Shejaiya further south. In the distance, to the south, smoke rising from Khan Yunis was also visible.
Below us, an IDF jeep kept watch on the area near the border.
An IDF jeep overlooks northern Gaza, November 25, 2024. (Joel Pollak / Breitbart News)
There was a loud boom, and a crashing sounds, and a puff of smoke appeared from Beit Lahiya — evidence of an ongoing battle and perhaps a tank shell fired at a building.
Smoke rises from Beit Lahiya, Gaza, November 25, 2024. (Joel Pollak / Breitbart News)
We did not stay long, but doubled back, taking in views of several military outposts that Hamas targeted October 7.
The fight in Gaza continues, with Hamas reduced to a guerrilla force in almost all of the Strip. An IDF source told Breitbart News that the current strategy is to keep fighting and applying pressure to Hamas, slowly widening the Netzarim Corridor in the center of Gaza to increase the IDF’s control over the area. There are still four areas in Gaza that the IDF has not entered; that is thought to be where the remaining 101 Israeli hostages are being held captive.
The risk to the hostages may be too great to attempt direct rescues, though the IDF clearly hopes that encircling Hamas will encourage it to negotiate. There is another reason the military is moving slowly: the U.S. has slowed deliveries of weapons and equipment, forcing the IDF to improvise, and slowing down its progress.
Meanwhile, the fight continues — with Israel relying on reservists, many of whom have spent months away from home.
When a ceasefire arrives in Lebanon, as is expected in the coming days, the focus of the war may shift again to Gaza — and to the plight of the hostages. As the battle against Hamas intensifies, Yatar will be there, ready to respond.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of The Agenda: What Trump Should Do in His First 100 Days, available for pre-order on Amazon. He is also the author of The Trumpian Virtues: The Lessons and Legacy of Donald Trump’s Presidency, now available on Audible. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
