The

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

i Operations Directorate (, ''Agaf HaMivtza'im'') is a branch in the

General Staff A military staff or general staff (also referred to as army staff, navy staff, or air staff within the individual services) is a group of officers, enlisted and civilian staff who serve the commander of a division or other large military un ...

of the

Israel Defense Forces The Israel Defense Forces (IDF; he, צְבָא הַהֲגָנָה לְיִשְׂרָאֵל , ), alternatively referred to by the Hebrew-language acronym (), is the national military of the Israel, State of Israel. It consists of three servic ...

, established in 1999, alongside the regional commands, the

air force An air force – in the broadest sense – is the national military branch that primarily conducts aerial warfare. More specifically, it is the branch of a nation's armed services that is responsible for aerial warfare as distinct from an a ...

and

navy A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval warfare, naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral zone, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and ...

. Since June 2021, it is headed by

Aluf ''Aluf'' ( he, אלוף, lit=champion or "First\leader of a group" in Biblical Hebrew; ) is a senior military rank in the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) for officers who in other countries would have the rank of general, air marshal, or admiral. ...

Tasks

The directorate has the following responsibilities: * Preparing the IDF for war, emergencies, and day-to-day security * Deriving an operational strategy from the national security agenda and military doctrine * Coordinating the IDF's work with the other

security forces Security forces are statutory organizations with internal security mandates. In the legal context of several nations, the term has variously denoted police and military units working in concert, or the role of military and paramilitary forces (s ...

, and drafting IDF recommendations for the political echelon * Instructing the regional command, air force, navy,

GOC Army Headquarters The GOC Army Headquarters ( he, מפקדת זרוע היבשה, ''Mifkedet Zro'a HaYabasha'', abbreviated Mazi), is a multi-corps command headquarters created in 1998, which amalgamates the ground forces of the Israel Defense Forces. The current ...

and other directorates, with respect to the exercise of force and its coordination

Units

* Operations Division * Instruction, Doctrine and Evaluation Division *

IDF Spokesperson The IDF Spokesperson's Unit ( he, דובר צה"ל, ''Dover Tsahal'', abbr. Dotz) is the unit in the IDF Operations Directorate, responsible for information policy and media relations. The unit is led by the IDF Spokesperson, a brigadier general an ...

* Special Means Division * Department for Campaign Design * Centre for Consciousness Operations * Inspection and Supervision Department * General Staff Security Department

Commanders

The list includes those who served as heads of operations prior to when it was spun off from the IDF's General Staff. The list also includes pre-IDF

Haganah Haganah ( he, הַהֲגָנָה, lit. ''The Defence'') was the main Zionist paramilitary organization of the Jewish population ("Yishuv") in Mandatory Palestine between 1920 and its disestablishment in 1948, when it became the core of the ...

commander

Yigael Yadin Yigael Yadin ( he, יִגָּאֵל יָדִין ) (20 March 1917 – 28 June 1984) was an Israeli archeologist, soldier and politician. He was the second Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces and Deputy Prime Minister from 1977 to 1981. B ...

who also served in that capacity during the

1948 Arab–Israeli War The 1948 (or First) Arab–Israeli War was the second and final stage of the 1948 Palestine war. It formally began following the end of the British Mandate for Palestine at midnight on 14 May 1948; the Israeli Declaration of Independence had ...

Dan Halutz Dan Halutz ( he, דן חלוץ, ; born August 7, 1948) is an Israeli Air Force lieutenant general and former Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces and commander of the Israeli Air Force. Halutz served as chief of staff in 2005–2007. Bi ...

, who original served as the Aide to Chief of the Operations Branch, was appointed to the head of the Operations Directorate soon after its establishment.

Assistant Head of the Operations Branch

The list is of those who served as Assistant Head of the Operations Branch prior to establishment of the Operations Directorate in 1999.

Tasks

Units

Commanders

Assistant Head of the Operations Branch

References

See also