Following Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist assault across Israel’s southern border, Israel established the IDF’s 96th Division to confront emerging security challenges along the country’s frontier with Jordan.
The Israel Defense Forces gave INC News exclusive access to frontline military installations involved in countering threats linked to Iran’s regime, terrorism, drug and weapons trafficking, and unauthorized crossings by Palestinians seeking employment inside Israel.
Although the “Jordanian border is a peace border,” an Israeli military official told INC News, “There is a strategic competition over Jordan. The other side [Iran’s regime] understands it is a peaceful border and a strategic advantage for any of our enemies who want to be there.” Jordan and Israel signed their peace treaty in 1994.
View from an IDF military watchtower looking toward Jordan. (Benjamin Weinthal for INC News)
In the intense heat of the Jordan Valley, a region steeped in biblical history and associated with Joshua leading the Jews into Israel, the durability of Middle East peace faces a fresh test.
The Jordan Valley is mentioned often in Scripture. John the Baptist carried out his ministry and baptisms there, including the baptism of Jesus. “Tourists come to explore it [Jordan Valley region],” the military official said. Because of its deep Christian and Jewish roots, the area has been described as the “Original Bible Belt.”
Amid Israel’s seven-front conflict with Iran and its allied groups, INC News reported that Middle East analysts said Iran’s regime and Hamas had attempted to undermine stability in Jordan.
In 2024, Jordan saw demonstrations expressing support for the Hamas terrorist organization.
After Hamas slaughtered over 1,200 people on 10/7, including more than 40 Americans, the IDF is reactivating 45 military bases spread out between Israel and Jordan. The IDF said the bases were built after the 1967 Six-Day War and their operation was” discontinued in the late 1990s. IDF Division 96 oversees the sprawling bases filled with bunkers in the Jordan Valley.
A military official told INC News that “Since the beginning of the year, Division 96 has thwarted more than 20 smuggling attempts involving weapons and narcotics.”
READ MORE: Venezuela Earthquake Rescuers Say Buildings Were Propped Up With Styrofoam
According to the military official, “All walks of life come here [Jordan Valley]. The army’s job is to make sure that everybody can live here in peace.” Division 96 covers 250 air miles and approximately 242.3 miles of territory, said the military official. The IDF created Division 96 a little more than a year ago.
The military official said that a critical piece of its multilayered defense is to build a new wall. “The army took everything we learned from 10/7 and revamped the wall.” The military official added the construction of the wall helps to explain why Palestinians are seeking to illegally enter Israel for employment: “They see the wall and realize that their time is now up to come in.”
He stressed there are legal entry points into Israel from the Jordanian side.
The multipronged new Israeli border system in the Jordan Valley is demarcated by three layers. The first layer is a military outpost, like the facility INC News toured. Named “European Goldfinch,” it is situated across from the defunct historical Adam Bridge, where two Jordanian military outposts are within eyesight.
The second layer of defense is the construction of a wall. And the third line of defense is the military bases that lodges Division 96. The IDF official said that the army also increased the number of reserve soldiers.
The Israeli army built another five battalions of soldiers who were never engaged in service or finished their service and wish to return to duty. The reservists “understood the point of history we are in” and their “love for Israel,” said the Israeli military official.
During Israel’s war with Iran, the clerical regime’s forces fired missiles into the Jordan Valley. The bunkers located in the outposts served as a refuge from Iran’s rockets.
First line of defense. An IDF military outpost sits on the Israeli side of Jordanian border. (Benjamin Weinthal for INC News)
The military bases inspected by INC News are located in Area C in the disputed West Bank territory, referred to by many Israelis by the region’s biblical names as Judea and Samaria. Nearly 500,000 Israelis and around 300,000 Palestinians live in Area C, which makes up 60% of the total area of Judea and Samaria. The Oslo Accords, which were signed between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) in 1993, stipulated military and civilian control over Area C was absorbed by the IDF.
The miltiary official said that “We have the same agenda as Jordan: To keep the border peaceful.”
