Unit 504 is one of the most secret units that deal with intel inside the Arab population, interrogations and preceise intelligence.

Because of the nature of their work, you don't hear much about them, but they are there.
Publication was allowed to get a small glimspe inside that work, and report here in Part #2.

WHEN A SONG AND A CIGARETTE INCRIMINATE AN ENTIRE AMBUSH

As mentioned, collecting information and putting the pieces of the puzzle together requires quite a bit from investigators, but sometimes, their presence in the field is enough and intelligence makes its way to them in a "natural" way: "Whether you like it or not, the population is unfortunately exposed to what is happening around them, to the things that terrorists and terror elements are doing in their area, and therefore our presence alongside the forces and the ability to listen and identify valuable things, obtains critical information."

Just a few weeks ago, Capt. (res.) A. encountered just such a case during a routine evacuation operation in the northern Gaza Strip. "I was sitting and chanting to myself in Arabic, when suddenly one of the residents heard me, turned to me in Arabic and asked how I was," he recalls. "I introduced myself, gave him a glass of water and we even sat down for a cigarette."

"Then he said to me, 'Captain, I want to tell you something. I saw that yesterday in the Jabaliya area they had planted a huge bomb underground because they knew that the forces were supposed to enter there with the tanks. The person who installed the system is a man I know in the neighborhood, and I know his name. I know that he works in electricity and I know that he is connected to Hamas people.'"

The same resident continued with the precise accusation and pointed out the place from which the organization's terrorists were observing the bomb, with the aim of activating it from a distance: "The first thing I did was try to undermine things. I asked him how he knew, why he thought it was a bomb, I suggested that maybe they had buried a dog there, and so on and so forth."

"He replied that he knew the people, his neighbors, and saw them walking around the streets, armed. He also said that they didn't have a dog," the investigator continues in the same breath, "That day we scanned with drones and were able to locate the excavations and the land they were working on, including a cable that came out of it and led, exactly as he described, to a building 400 meters away - the observation post. You don't have to be a great commander to understand that they tried to ambush us there. It's almost needless to say that these places were attacked immediately."

Moments like these prove to him the contribution of these fighters and how critical their presence in the field is: "As part of an innocent conversation, I started asking him questions about the area and he simply told me what he saw. It's not just what you imagine in movies - what a terribly tough investigation. These are things that happen quite often - when the chance encounter with the population, together with choosing the right questions, manages to save lives."

"I went outside, took a deep breath, and went inside, this time with a smile too."

When asked about the feelings that accompany each such encounter, the field researcher chuckles nervously. "The interaction with people changes. It's such a big playground, and we adapt ourselves every time to the person standing in front of us. When I enter the room, I'm not A, I'm the investigator that that suspect needs to meet - tough, slick or humorous. I understand what his weaknesses are, what bothers him, how he speaks and relates to things. Every time."

"After all, I'm a human being," he says. "There's no doubt that at the beginning of the fighting, the emotional and physical strain took its toll, along with the wound that was still fresh. And yet, at certain crisis points, we, as investigators in 504, must know how to separate the personal from the professional - between the affection for the Arab culture that brought us to the position, and the shocking cries of massacre on the morning of Black Sabbath, in the same language."

"In one of the first weeks, there was a terrorist sitting across from me and describing the atrocities he took part in on October 7, terrible things that I don't want to repeat, all with a smile that never left his face," he shares. "I went outside for two minutes, took a deep breath, digested what I heard, and went back inside, this time with a smile too. I said to him, 'Okay, keep telling me. What else did you do and what did you see?' There's no doubt that over time you get used to it and learn to make this separation naturally. But it's obviously not easy."

He draws his strength not necessarily from the major activities that make headlines, but from the everyday identifications that make the difference between life and death: "Sometimes we receive information about something relatively significant. Not long ago, we identified a certain compound that was used by Hamas in the area. When we attacked the target, we saw the secondary explosions that proved that it was a huge weapons depot. This is an operational success without a doubt, but it doesn't compare to a battalion commander calling and saying - 'You saved us.'"

Today, when he returns home to his wife and children, to his normal life and to his work in high-tech, Captain (res.) A. cannot help but look at them in a slightly different way. "We saw all the horrific things that these murderers did, there is not a day that I don't remember these sights, and hug the children a little tighter."

What happened that terrible morning, the intelligence officer experienced firsthand - as someone who himself jumped into the difficult battles on the Zikim airbase, this time wearing only a warrior's hat. And perhaps this detail is enough to understand the complexity of the role, especially now and especially in Gaza. Every time he dives into the depths of a Hamas terrorist's thoughts - he is exposed again to that pure cruelty, which has been etched in his memory forever.

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Read Part #1

Sources: DiplNet - NewsRael - Officials