Givati Brigade

The Givati Brigade (Hebrew: חטיבת גבעתי) is one of Israel's most storied infantry brigades, distinguished by its purple beret and the FOX as its unit symbol, a reference to "Samson's Foxes" from the 1948 War of Independence. The 5th Brigade was formed in December 1947 under the command of Shimon Avidan and participated in operations Hametz, Barak, and Pleshet during the war. It was reorganised as a reserve formation in 1956 before being re-established as an active infantry brigade in 1983, now numbered the 84th Brigade under the Southern Command. Its motto is "With me to Givati: any place, any time, any mission."

Givati has been one of the IDF's most heavily deployed ground formations since the 7 October 2023 Hamas attacks, suffering 89 soldiers killed through 2024-2026 including those lost on 7 October itself. The brigade fought throughout the Gaza ground campaign, taking significant casualties. In 2026 it was also committed to the Lebanon front after Hezbollah escalated attacks in support of Iran following US-Israeli strikes on the Islamic Republic from March 2026 onwards. Sgt. Rotem Yanai, a 20-year-old NCO in Givati's Rotem Battalion, was killed by a Hezbollah explosive drone near the Lebanon border on 27 May 2026 after sirens sounded but the drone was not intercepted; she was the 24th IDF soldier killed on the Lebanon front since Hezbollah renewed its attacks.

The June 2026 Lebanon fighting marks a second major simultaneous front for Givati. Hezbollah's growing use of first-person view drones, which are largely resistant to electronic jamming, has imposed casualties on IDF units across the border zone. Givati's losses in both theatres have made it a central symbol of the human cost of Israel's multi-front military campaign, and its female soldiers' roles in combat-adjacent positions have drawn particular public attention in Israel.