In a rare glimpse into one of Israel's most clandestine military units, photographer Oren Cohen spent two years documenting the Israeli Navy's Underwater Missions Unit (Yalt'am). His unprecedented access, both before and after the October 7 attacks, offers a unique look at the specialized divers who protect Israel's maritime borders, perform complex rescue operations, and neutralize underwater threats. Despite its critical role in national security, this unit remains largely unknown to the public, especially since October 7.
"We deal with what could be called professional diving," explains Lt. Col. Oron Inbar (47), the unit's commander for the past five years, who completed his service this week after nearly three decades in the military. "Professional diving is a complex field, very different from combat diving performed by Shayetet 13 (Israel's naval special forces). Our diving can be both shallow and very deep, with unit members diving to depths of 300 feet. We also have robotic equipment that can reach depths between 330 and 980 feet, which has been crucial during the current conflict."
When asked about missions since October 7, Inbar elaborates: "We mobilized very quickly when the war broke out, preparing for all scenarios, and were operational within hours. Since then, we've been doing what we do best in both the Red Sea and the Mediterranean. Our core wartime missions have involved neutralizing and removing or locating and removing devices we've found along the southern coast, for instance, after attempted sea infiltrations. In the southern sector, we've located and removed a lot of weaponry. We've also located and removed unmanned underwater vehicles, along with other missions involving detection and mapping, often in cooperation with Shayetet 13 and Yahalom (the IDF's elite combat engineering unit).
The Yalt'am unit also has offensive capabilities, which have been utilized in recent fighting. "We also engage in offensive missions," Inbar explains, "but routinely, we deal more with things the enemy prepares for us and causes us to handle, mainly detection, removal, neutralization, and destruction underwater."
At the start of the war, missions were truly around the clock, and even now, it's fair to say there's a lot of high-intensity activity. We're carrying out complex operations in the maritime arena, mainly in the southern sector, but also in the north."
Lt. Col. Oron Inbar, the outgoing Yalt'am commander, is 47, married with three children, and lives on the Kfar HaMaccabi kibbutz. "My love for water and handiwork began in childhood, and the combination always fascinated me," he recounts. "My father was a Shayetet 13 warrior, and I enlisted in 1997 for the naval officer course. I served on ships and as a commander in the naval officer course, then joined Yalt'am, which I've commanded since summer 2019 until this week, for five years."
Yalt'am marks Israeli holidays and special occasions in a unique way underwater, from raising national flags on Independence Day to lighting Hanukkah candles using underwater welding equipment. Yalt'am is one of the finest examples of women's integration in the IDF. "We've been a mixed-gender unit for over 20 years, and for us, it's the most natural thing in the world, a non-issue," Inbar reports.
One of Yalt'am's most crucial and important activities is rescue and recovery in all of Israel's aquatic and underwater areas, including the Mediterranean Sea, Red Sea, Sea of Galilee, rivers, and more. Over the years, the unit has participated in numerous missions to locate missing persons. Tragically, in many cases, this has also involved recovering bodies from the water.
Unit members play a vital role in rescue operations following military accidents, often working in collaboration with Unit 669 combat rescue forces. "Once it becomes an underwater incident, we lead it," Inbar explains, "both in rescue and in collecting and extracting parts of crashed helicopters – for example, for accident investigations."
In many cases, Yalt'am works on civilian incidents in cooperation with the police. "It happens quite often that innocent civilians swimming in the sea or various bodies of water spot something – for example, different types of ordnance, weapon parts, or bombs," says Inbar. "The civilians call the police, and they call us. These parts end up in the water, among other reasons, as remnants of criminal incidents."
Another unique Yalt'am specialization, even at the national level, is explosives handling – for example, removing bombs and weaponry found underwater, dealing with improvised explosive devices. "It's similar to what the Yahalom unit of the Combat Engineering Corps does," says Inbar, "and we cooperate with them."
"We perform any task or job you can imagine above water and underwater, and often the underwater execution is much more complex and dangerous," Inbar explains. "We deal with underwater engineering, treating and rehabilitating infrastructure, systems, structures, and vessels, underwater welding and cutting, and more."
Yalt'am is composed of two combat companies and one logistical-technical company. All fighters undergo a year-long training in professional diving. The explosives experts undergo training with a special engineering unit of the ground forces, followed by training for underwater explosives handling.
As providers of professional support and backup for certain cases that can occur far from shore, Yalt'am fighters often join patrols of missile boats and submarines far from Israel's shores.
Yalt'am, established under its current name in 1980, has a glorious history of participation in special operations and Israel's wars. Among other missions, unit fighters took part in Operation Spring of Youth, crossing the Suez Canal and rescuing wounded soldiers during the Yom Kippur War.
The Yalt'am insignia features an octopus, symbolizing the unit's versatility in tackling diverse underwater challenges and its ability to adapt to changing circumstances during complex missions.
In an emotional ceremony attended by Haifa Naval Base Commander Brigadier General Eli Socholitzky, outgoing Yalt'am Commander Oron Inbar completed his role and was replaced by Lt. Col. Matan Bar. The veteran divers of Yalt'am also came to salute.
