IDF Chief of Staff, Lt.-Gen. Benny Gantz at Israel Navy event. Photo: IDF.

In a ceremony held at their coastal base near Haifa on Monday, the Israeli Navy’s Flotilla 13 unit received a special citation for successful missions the IDF said were carried out deep within enemy territory.

“What characterizes the commando unit is its operational initiative,” IDF Chief of Staff, Lt.-Gen. Benny Gantz said at the event, held at the unit’s base at Atlit.

“The naval commandos did not shy away from any mission, looking for how to fit in, looking for how to influence, how to get involved,” Gantz said. “Fighters initiate covert operations, secret, visible and less visible. The naval commandos have a great wealth of operations and operational culture, initiate, and are modest about it.”

Navy commander, Gen. Ram Rothberg, said the unit deserved commendation, “as a token of appreciation for carrying out dozens of missions, in operations between the wars. Unique, groundbreaking operations, in strenuous activities performed over a short period of time in different locations and within parallel operations.”

Rothberg added that the “citation is indicative of planning abilities, combat skills and personal abilities of each and every one of the commando unit.”

Flotilla 13 was part of the fighting during the summer’s Operation Protective Edge in Gaza.

In one declassified instance, a special forces team raided a compound in Sudanieyeh, in northern Gaza, from which many long-range rockets were being fired at Israel.

During the battle four soldiers sustained minor wounds, the IDF said. Palestinian eyewitnesses said that Hamas’ Izzadine al-Qassam Brigades terrorists opened fire to try to thwart the raid, to no avail.