Disguised to Kill: the story of the Mustaʿribīn, the Israeli soldiers disguised as Palestinians

While the members of the Global Sumud Flotilla crews are imprisoned in Israel, in the Gaza Strip the genocide goes on as if nothing had happened. The daily chronicles of raids, targeted killings, and incursions into hospitals and refugee camps risk slipping into silence, drowned out by the background noise of political statements and diplomatic maneuvers.

That’s why in this issue we want to shift the focus to a story that blends fiction and historical truth, and whose roots go back long before 1948, the year of the birth of the State of Israel. It is the story of a military unit that made disguise and deception its main weapon: Israeli soldiers who pretend to be Arabs in order to infiltrate, spy, and kill. A tradition of undercover operations that directly involved a former Israeli prime minister, that often crossed into violations of international law producing actual war crimes, and that ultimately became famous thanks to a TV series beloved worldwide.

This issue is written by Luigi and edited by Sacha.

“Spring of Youth”

On the night between April 9 and 10, 1973, small commando units from Sayeret Matkal, the Israeli army’s elite unit, left the port of Haifa on patrol boats, stopped off the coast of Beirut, and prepared to land. The soldiers were heading to Lebanon to target the leaders of the PLO, the Palestine Liberation Organization. These men were accused by Israeli officials of having organized and contributed to the Black September terrorist attack at the 1972 Munich Olympics, in which eleven Israeli athletes were killed.

But the operation was far from regular: in order to succeed, the soldiers had to enter Lebanese territory disguised as Palestinian civilians, and to avoid attracting too much attention it was preferable that they moved in pairs of “man and woman,” apparently tourists. The mission would later become known as “Spring of Youth.” Several soldiers disguised themselves as women and, together with their “partners”—in reality fellow commandos—drove through the city in rented cars until they reached the homes of their targets, whom they eliminated without hesitation. The action lasted only a few minutes but caused some collateral casualties, including two women. After the attacks, the commandos withdrew and boarded again for Israel. Among them, taking part in one of the disguises, was future Chief of Staff and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, as well as Yonatan Netanyahu, the elder brother of the current president, who would die a few years later.

From Colonial Origins to the Heart of the Intifada

The idea of disguising as Arabs in order to infiltrate Palestinian communities was neither new nor particularly secret. In Arabic there already existed a term, Mustaʿribīn, literally meaning “those who live among the Arabs.” As early as 1942, during World War II, the Zionist paramilitary group Palmach created the Arab Platoon (Ha-Shahar) with the support of the British Army. This unit was composed of Sephardic Jews who were native Arabic speakers and was trained to infiltrate communities on missions of espionage and sabotage. After the British withdrawal and the founding of Israel, Ha-Shahar continued its activities, carrying out operations such as the attempted poisoning of wells in Palestinian villages in 1948.

It was during the Intifada of the 1980s, however, that the Israeli government revived these methods. Ehud Barak, by then Chief of Staff and inspired by the very “Spring of Youth” operation in which he had taken part, decided to create a unit of men who “look like Arabs, speak like Arabs, and ride bikes in the alleys of Shechem as if they were on Dizengoff Street in Tel Aviv.” Thus, in 1986, Duvdevan (Unit 217) was born, designed to operate in the West Bank. In 1991 came Yamas, a Border Police unit combining infiltration and sniper operations in Palestinian areas. Israeli police also established Gideonim (Unit 33) for covert interventions in mixed cities and in the world of organized crime, while the army deployed units such as Rimon (active in Gaza from 1978 to 2005) and Shimshon (Unit 367).

Trained to Disappear: how undercover agents are born

Entering the mustaʿribīn requires psychophysical and cultural training that can last up to fifteen months. Candidates first undergo an infantry course; then they study Arabic dialects and local customs, learning to recite verses of the Qur’an, to cook maqluba, and to wear the keffiyeh correctly. Once operational, agents act in teams of 4–8 men disguised as Palestinians; they often take part in demonstrations, throw stones, or chant slogans to blend in with the protesters. At the agreed moment they draw pistols and rifles hidden beneath loose clothing and arrest or kill the target, creating chaos. In many protests in the West Bank, demonstrators have learned to spot infiltrators by watching whether they walk with their shirt tucked into their trousers to hide weapons.

Training also includes urban survival techniques, shooting with suppressors, and rapid-response drills; operators must be able to act within seconds, confuse opponents, and call in air or ground support. The use of disguises includes women’s clothing, medical uniforms, wheelchairs, strollers and even infants in swaddling — all to bypass surveillance.

The War Crimes of the Mustaʿribīn

During the years of the First and Second Intifada, the mustaʿribīn were deployed in demonstrations across the West Bank. Undercover, they would throw stones or incite violence, only to later arrest activists. But one of the most controversial aspects of mustaʿribīn operations soon became their raids on medical facilities.

In 2015, a unit disguised as a Palestinian family entered Hebron hospital: one soldier posed as a pregnant woman with a fake belly, another as a relative in a wheelchair. Once inside the room of a suspect, they shot him dead and arrested his cousin, leaving the body behind.

Even more shocking was the raid on January 30, 2024, at the Ibn Sina Hospital in Jenin. At dawn, about a dozen agents disguised as doctors, nurses, veiled women, and even a father carrying a baby entered the physiotherapy ward. According to the medical director, the soldiers spoke fluent Arabic, asked for directions, and carried medical bags. Upon reaching room 376, they opened fire with silenced pistols, killing Basel and Mohammed Ghazawi and Mohammad Jalamneh, the latter paralyzed from the waist down. There was no exchange of fire: the victims were asleep, and the agents left swiftly. The Palestinian NGO Al-Haq described the episode as a war crime and an act forbidden under international laws protecting medical facilities.

According to the Israeli human rights group B’Tselem, between 2000 and 2010 undercover agents killed 161 Palestinians, including 19 minors. One of the most debated incidents occurred in June 2021, when an infiltrated unit in Ramallah killed 27-year-old Ahmad Jamil Fahd, who had left his home to buy sweets. Witnesses said the soldiers, dressed as Palestinians, shot him, left him bleeding to death, and later claimed he was a “terrorist” aiding fugitives. His family, however, called it an extrajudicial execution.

Fauda and the Legitimation of the Mustaʿribīn

The clandestine operations of the mustaʿribīn have a deep impact on Palestinian society. The tactic of infiltrating protests and communities generates a climate of paranoia: demonstrators fear that the neighbor throwing a stone could actually be an undercover agent ready to open fire. According to an analysis by The New Arab, this method not only disrupts protests but also breeds mutual suspicion and erodes social cohesion. The constant threat of nighttime raids on homes and hospitals undermines trust in civil and health institutions.

Yet in Israel, the mustaʿribīn are often portrayed in the media as heroes operating behind enemy lines to prevent attacks. The television series Fauda—written by Lior Raz, a former mustaʿribīn soldier in the IDF—has been airing since 2015 and exported worldwide, focusing precisely on the story of such a unit. The show depicts the agents as brave men fighting terrorism, highlighting the self-sacrifice and emotional strain of undercover work, while glossing over the human rights violations denounced by international organizations. In fact, its popularity, together with the often celebratory tone of Israeli press coverage, has helped normalize the idea that disguises, targeted executions, deception, and collateral damage are legitimate instruments of warfare.

Until the next Debrief,
Sacha and Luigi

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