Days after Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, the Pentagon quietly dispatched several dozen commandos to Israel to help advise on hostage recovery efforts, U.S. officials said.

Those troops from the Joint Special Operations Command were quickly joined by a group of intelligence officers, some working with the commandos in Israel and others back at CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia.

For more than a year, much of the attention, and criticism, around U.S. support for Israel has focused on the U.S.-made bombs and weaponry Israel has used to attack the Gaza Strip.