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4th Brigade - Kiryati

The Kiraiti Brigade (4th Brigade, formerly called the 166th Brigade and the 602nd Brigade) is an armored reserve brigade under the command of the Hametz, a reserve division under the Northern Command. Formerly an anti-aircraft brigade of the "Hagana" and then a regular brigade in the IDF. Unlike other divisions from those first 12, Division 4 always remained Division 4.

The brigade was established in Tel Aviv in February 1948, based on IHS companies. The border of the division was the urban area of the city of Tel Aviv from Nahal Yarkon in the north to Bat Yam in the south to Yazur (area) in the east. The brigade participated in several battles during the Israeli War for Independence, and also played a role in the Sinai Campaign during the battle for the Straits of Tiran. The brigade was established as an infantry unit at the beginning of the War of Independence (1948) and fought in the center of the country. In the Six Day War (1967) it fought in Latron and in 1972 it was converted into an armored brigade. Since then it has participated in the fighting in the Golan Heights and Lebanon sectors.

It was one of the original nine brigades that made up the Haganah army. Its first commander was Michael Ben Gal. The Kiryati Brigade was initially responsible for securing the area in and around Tel Aviv. It consisted of two battalions of infantry and captured Yehud, Wilhelma (now Bnei-Etarot) and Ramla.

Regarding the first 2 battalions - battalions: 42 and 44 - despite the names appearing on the monument in the Jordan camp, the 113th battalion was not transferred to the brigade. As for the 126th Battalion, which later was in the 211th Brigade, then it's just a coincidence that their numbers are the same. The original battalion that started with the 520th Brigade (later 217) moved as mentioned to the 4th Brigade after the war along with his "brothers".If in the Kadesh War as the 4th Reserve Brigade, in the Six Days when it was the 4th Hetmar, and if in the Yom Kippur War when it was a mechanized brigade that within a day became fully armored and remained so until the end of the war. Later it changed its number twice, it absorbed two of the Hafar Brigade 217 battalions.

The Kiryati Brigade was formed in March 1948 by David Ben-Gurion on the basis of personnel from the Tel Aviv area. During the ceasefire, six brigades were found in the central region of the country: the Alexandroni Brigade in Sharon , the Kiryat Brigade in Gush Dan, the Yiftach Brigade in the Shephelah, the Harel Brigade in the Jerusalem Corridor, the Etzioni in Jerusalem and the armored brigade, the 8th Brigade, in the Tel Aviv area.

In July 1948, for the purpose of Operation Dani, the following were assigned: the Harel Brigade reinforced with the Moriah Battalion from Zezioni, the Yiftach Brigade , the Kiryti Brigade, the 8th Brigade under the command of Yitzhak Sade reinforced by two infantry battalions from Alexandroni and Kiryti and several artillery batteries." The brigade took part in the occupation of the western part of the city of Ramla and participated in the occupation of the area of Bnei Atarot - Beit Naballah - Rantia and the occupation of the village of Silvit (later Kibbutz Sha'aliv).

Her 142nd Battalion, the Army Battalion suffered a heavy blow with the occupation of the Modi'in area controls by an attack carried out by the Arabs of the villages of Ranthis and apparently Kibiya. 23 fallen were included in the religious company of the battalion and 2 fighters are missing from this battle to this day (the bodies of the fighters were severely abused). A few hours later, the IDF battalion from the brigade carried out a counterattack and recaptured the place.

The 42nd battalion of the brigade was caught up in a fierce battle when it arrived to the west of Ramla and suffered heavy losses. Kiryat did not participate in the conquest of Ramla, because Ramla was not captured in battle (but surrendered after Lod fell). In the literature (by Elhanan Oren, for example) it appears that the 42nd Battalion of Kiryat participated in a diversionary attack on the city - In Ramla a monument was erected to commemorate the battalion and its 35 soldiers who fell in the War of Independence.

The 95th Battalion, the original Sherman Battalion of the brigade, which was the basis for its establishment as a mechanized brigade in 1972 (later its name was changed and it was converted to an infantry battalion). The brigade then numbered the 95th Armored Battalion (which was transferred from the Harel-10 Brigade) whose name was changed before the war to 164 and it was converted to the Shot Brigade. Likewise, the brigade numbered the 42nd KRAMSH battalion (the same battalion, whose monument is in Tzirifin) as well as the 127th battalion, which originated from the 12th brigade and was transferred to the brigade before the Sinai War and has remained there ever since.

In the Sinai War the brigade opened the operation on the central axis and captured Kasima. In the Six Day War, the brigade captured Letron, continued its advance up Beit Huron and reached the back of the mountain. In 1972, the brigade under the command of Col. Jacob Hadar (Peffer) was converted to a mechanized brigade.

In the Battle of Khan Yunis (2023) the Kiryti Brigade was subordinated to the Fire Brigade (Division 98) together with the Oz , Givati , 55 and 7 Brigades. On December 7, 2023, the fire formation forces attacked the Khan Yunis area . The Divisional Combat Team (Kiraiti TDF) together with TDF 55 participated in the siege of the city of Khan Yunis and in the attack against companies of the Khan Yunis Brigade of Hamas. As part of raids against Hamas terrorists, the IDF forces uncovered many weapons in the area of schools. The 4th IDF fighters took over the Hamas headquarters inside a mosque where a terrorist squad was hiding, and eliminated the squad. The forces destroyed a terrorist squad that tried to escape towards a combat tunnel .

On December 10, fighters of the Kiryat IDF raided the headquarters of the Islamic Jihad and found many weapons, including mortar bombs , explosive charges, technological equipment such as operating systems, intelligence documents and a shaft leading to an underground infrastructure that was destroyed.

In another battle in the area of a school, 5 fighters from the 8111 battalion were killed. The fighters of the 8111 Battalion, under the 4th Brigade's combat team, began a raid on a terrorist infrastructure complex in the area of a school from which shooting was carried out at the forces in the southern Gaza Strip. During the fighting, a bomb was fired at the forces and terrorists were identified in the area, the fighters returned fire, directed aircraft and tanks, attempted contact, eliminated terrorists and destroyed the terrorist infrastructure in the compound.

At the same time, the fighters of the 4th Brigade's combat team raided the headquarters of the Islamic Jihad where they located many weapons, mortar bombs, explosive charges, technological equipment such as operating systems, intelligence documents and a shaft leading to an underground infrastructure that was destroyed. From the beginning of the fighting of the 4th Brigade's combat team in the southern Gaza Strip, the fighters destroyed terrorist targets and eliminated many terrorists.

The Israeli army announced 29 January 2024 that the Kiriti Brigade (4), which operated in Khan Yunis recently, had left the Gaza Strip and was replaced by other forces. The 4th Brigade of the Israeli army leaves the Gaza StripUN report: Israel has ordered the evacuation of 41% of Gaza since December 2023.

The army stated in a statement on its website that during its work in the sector, "the brigade's fighters eliminated the terrorists, raided terrorist infrastructure such as a lathe for producing missiles and their launch pads, and found many weapons."

The fighters used "drones to gather intelligence and to eliminate terrorists. In one incident, the drone operators identified a terrorist group heading towards the forces, directed an aircraft and the terrorists were eliminated." The army also published a number of video clips of the operations carried out by the brigade in the Gaza Strip.