The Israel Defense Forces is marking the 78th anniversary of its establishment on May 26, 1948, it announced on Tuesday.
The IDF was formed only days after Israel declared independence. Less than a week later, on May 31, 1948, the nascent government issued an order unifying the Haganah and all other then existing Jewish fighting forces under the umbrella of the newly constituted Israel Defense Forces.
On the anniversary, the IDF provided a series of updates on all major war fronts.
According to the IDF, it has killed around 600 Hezbollah fighters since the April 17 ceasefire.
This is in addition to the 1,800 Hezbollah terrorists that the IDF killed from March until April 17 during the height of the war.
On the Gaza front, the IDF said it has killed 120 Hamas fighters in recent months.
Most Hamas terrorists were killed when they approached the yellow line splitting the 50% plus of Gaza under Israeli control from the portion of Gaza under Hamas’s control.
Regarding the West Bank, the IDF said that since the start of 2026, it has arrested over 15,000 terror suspects.
In addition, the IDF said that it has confiscated over 400 weapons and 20 lathes for manufacturing improvised explosive devices.
Separately, the IDF said it is working on a number of experimental responses to the escalating FPV drone threat from Hezbollah.
Home Front Command has received around 930,000 calls
Next, it said that over the last year, its Home Front Command has received around 930,000 calls to its emergency 104 phone line.
Regarding the navy, the IDF said that it has prevented six flotillas from trying to break the blockade of Hamas in Gaza.
This has involved commandeering around 120 ships and arresting around 1,200 persons at sea.
Finally, it added that using new more efficient electronic and artificial intelligence (AI) systems, it has managed to rescue around one quarter of injured soldiers via helicopter. This can save lives by shortening the time it takes to get wounded soldiers to Israeli medical centers, the IDF said.
