T-shirt NILI / נצח ישראל לא ישקר – Shabak Special Unit - small logo - black

Current operational unit NILI

(In Hebrew ניל״י, which is an acronym for Netzach Yisra'el Lo Yeshaker - נצח ישראל לא ישקר, meaning "The Eternal One of Israel will not lie". The origin of this saying comes from the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible), specifically from the First Book of Samuel (Shmuel Alef), chapter 15, verse 29. NILI represents a special covert operational structure created by the Israeli security service Shin Bet (Shabak) in cooperation with the external intelligence agency Mossad and the Israeli army (IDF).

Its name refers to the historical Jewish spy network NILI from World War I, which helped the British against the Ottoman Empire. However, the current unit was created with a very specific, narrowly defined mission.

Creation and mission of the unit

The unit was established in response to terrorist attacks on October 7, 2023. Its exclusive objective is to locate and eliminate all members of the terrorist movement Hamas who directly participated in planning, leading, or carrying out these attacks – particularly members of the elite Nukhba commando units. In the Israeli security community, this mission is compared to the historical Operation Wrath of God (Mivtza Z'am HaEl), which Mossad carried out following the massacre of Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympics in 1972.

How the unit operates

The NILI unit functions as a specialized center for data collection, analysis, and operational targeting:

• Intelligence gathering: It evaluates vast amounts of data – from interrogations of captured terrorists, through footage from body cameras (GoPro) of the attackers themselves, documents found in the Gaza Strip, to digital traces (facial recognition, wiretaps, and communication surveillance).

• Creating target lists: It assembles a precise system of priority targets from operatives in the field to highly placed command cadres.

• Connection with operations: NILI itself functions as the "brain" directing the targeting machinery. The actual physical elimination of targets is carried out either by precision airstrikes (drones, air force), or by special IDF units (such as Sayeret Matkal, Shayetet 13, or Shin Bet units) directly in the field.

Results of operations

Since its inception, the unit has operated almost continuously. Its work has contributed to the elimination of a large number of company and battalion commanders of the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam wing (the military wing of Hamas) and hundreds of members of Nukhba units, as well as to tracking down key representatives of Hamas leadership in the Gaza Strip. The unit operates independently of other tactical-operational teams of the IDF, which allows it to focus exclusively on its long-term objective regardless of current shifts on the front.