- Footage released by the IDF showed members of the navy's "Snapir" unit fighting off Hamas militants.
- The video was filmed on October 7 during Hamas' surprise wave of attacks on Israel.
Video footage released by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) on Saturday showed members of the navy's "Snapir" unit fighting off Hamas militants attempting to launch an attack on Israel via the sea.
The Palestinian militant group Hamas' sea attack came as part of a wider wave of surprise attacks by land, sea, and air on October 7. The group fired a barrage of rockets into Israel while it sent armed paragliders and gunmen into Israeli territory, leading to the deaths of at least 1,300 Israelis and up to 150 being taken hostage.
The footage appears to show Israeli troops shooting and throwing grenades or depth charges from Defender-class boats at Hamas fighters.
The Hamas speedboat had been destroyed by forces from Israel's 916th Patrol Squadron using Dvora-class patrol boats, The Times of Israel reported. The insurgents on-board were thrown into the Mediterranean Sea and then attempted to swim toward the coast, the IDF said.
"Israeli Navy 'Snapir' Unit opened fire on terrorists who were swimming toward the shoreline in an attempt to infiltrate Israel by sea," the IDF said in an X, formerly known as Twitter, post about the incident.
"Soldiers thwarted a number of terrorists, preventing them from reaching the coastline," it added.
Israel has three Snapir units with bases in the Mediterranean ports of Haifa and Ashdod and another at Eilat, a busy port on the Red Sea, Defense News reported. It acts as a security force for the ports while also carrying out border patrols and underwater operations, per the site.
The Israeli navy will be boosted by British warships, surveillance aircraft, and elite Royal Marines arriving in the eastern Mediterranean.
The US also sent its USS Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier to the region on its first full deployment in a sign of support for Israel, as Insider previously reported.
It's also deploying several state-of-the-art F-35 fighter jets to the region to help deter Iran — which has backed Hamas and the Lebanon-based militant group Hezbollah — and prevent the war from deepening and potentially spilling into a wider conflict in the area.
Israel's retaliation for the October 7 Hamas offensive has targetted Gaza with a massive bombardment that has left 2,383 Palestinians dead and 10,814 injured on Sunday morning, according to Palestinian health ministry sources, per Reuters.