Two senior officers from the IDF's naval amphibious transport ships have provided exclusive revelations about their operations to The Jerusalem Post, in English for the first time.
IDF Maj. "G" is an Ashdod base commander for the large transport ships, Squadron 921, which can not only transport large numbers of soldiers, but also large vehicles and supplies deep behind enemy lines.
He has commanded ships for three years and commanded other ships for two years before that.
These landing craft are small- to medium-sized naval vessels primarily used to transport soldiers, equipment, vehicles, and supplies to conduct offensive amphibious operations from sea to land.
Each vessel is around 95 meters long, 20 meters wide, and weighs 2,500 tons.
For decades, the IDF has lacked such modern landing craft for mounting large amphibious assaults, leaving its troops to either attack enemy positions on land, be transported by air, or be transported by sea only in very small numbers.
Also, the IDF has not had the capacity to quickly resupply certain forward positions with large amounts of supplies or undamaged new vehicles in areas where the topography or enemy positions made resupplying by land impossible.
G revealed that in 2024, multiple ships of the Nachshon class traveled by sea behind enemy lines in Gaza and helped surprise three units of Hamas forces, which were heavily armed, including with rocket-propelled grenades.
According to G, working together with the air force and other infantry forces in the area, the three Hamas units were defeated.
Following those developments, G states that they unloaded cars, trucks, other vehicles, and large-scale supplies for the enormous IDF infantry forces, which were mid-operation as part of the Gaza invasion.
Supplies included: water, ammunition, vehicle fuel, food, and other items.
Nachshon ships repeatedly used in top-secret operations
This previously unreported operation was far from the only time that the Nachshon ships were used during the Middle East 2023-2025 War, but much of the ship's activities are still classified much the same way that Israel keeps its submarine activities under the public radar.
Questioned about whether he has been involved with the Nachshon ships in Lebanon and Syria, G responded, "We cannot speak about other areas" besides Gaza, but he added, "We can carry out all of the missions that we ordered to do."
In August 2023, the IDF announced delivery of the Nachshon ships, noting that they could be used to surprise Hezbollah behind enemy lines, and also the IDF navy's increased investment in naval capabilities relating to Syrian issues.
In terms of secrecy, even regarding the above-mentioned 2024 Gaza operation, "G" would not reveal where in Gaza the ship landed.
Next, G disclosed that each ship has about 45 soldiers assigned to it.
In addition, G complemented the air force and intelligence in assisting the Nachshon ships in navigating complex scenarios, such as the timing and exact locations where their operations should take them.
During the war, the air force provided covering fire for all military wings, from the ground forces to the navy.
Soldiers on the Nachshon ships must train extensively before a mission, even setting up models of their landing areas, G explained.
IDF Maj. "R" serves in the Logistics Command, but works hand-in-hand with G to ensure that the ships have all of the items that they have been directed to bring into the battle space.
R noted that land vehicles simply cannot transport the large volume of supplies to the battlefront that the Nachshon ships can.
According to R, providing supplies for large numbers of soldiers at the brigade (often up to 1,000) or division (often up to 5,000) level sometimes requires these ships.
In addition, R focuses on long-term planning to ensure there are properly trained naval soldiers to handle all activities in Nachshon's operations.
"This is very new for the Navy and really improves our logistics capabilities," said R.
In August 2023, then IDF Brig. Gen. and Haifa Base Commander Tal Politis and senior Defense Ministry officials took possession of the Nahshon landing craft from American officials in a ceremony in the US.
During the ceremony, the Israeli navy finally received the first of two such vessels, which gave the IDF significant new tactical options in any potential future war with Hezbollah.
The new vessels arrived later than their original May 2022 target date, but clearly have made an impact.
Israel’s navy operated older landing craft from 1948 until 1993, when the last such vessel was decommissioned without replacement.
Most of the Israeli navy consists of missile boats, a small number of submarines, and a variety of smaller vessels.