[4] First and foremost a field intelligence-gathering unit, conducting deep reconnaissance behind enemy lines to obtain strategic intelligence, Sayeret Matkal is also tasked with a wide variety of special operations, including black operations; as well as combat search and rescue, counterterrorism, hostage rescue, HUMINT, irregular warfare, long-range penetration, conducting manhunts, and reconnaissance beyond Israel's borders.

In 1957, Major Avraham Arnan, a former yeshiva student and Palmach fighter, petitioned the IDF General Staff to create a unit that could be dispatched to enemy-held territory to carry out top secret intelligence-gathering missions.

[10] Established a year after the formation of Israel's first helicopter squadron, the close co-operation between the two units allowed Sayeret Matkal to deploy longer and deeper inside Arab territory than its predecessor.

Arnan's vision for Sayeret Matkal (of which he was the first commander) was of a unit that would carry out strategic intelligence-gathering and other operations; as such it would receive its missions only from the General Staff.

Among them Isaac Shoshan, Yair Harari, Eli Gil ("Daud"), Sami Nachmias, Charles Levy ("Salem"), Moshe Levin (Kukala), Shmuel Ben Zvi (Shemil), Yitzhak Ghibli ("The Little One"), Yehiel Amsalem – the commander of the first team in the unit, Meir Har-Zion, Avshalom Adam, Aharon Eshel, Micah Kapusta, Rami Kafkafi and many other young people from kibbutzim.

In the early 1960s, Sayeret Matkal conducted several intelligence-gathering operations in the Sinai Peninsula—the last of which was launched just four months before the outbreak of the Six-Day War.

After 1967, with the rise of Arab terrorism perpetrated by groups such as the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), Sayeret Matkal began developing the first counterterrorism and hostage rescue techniques in the world.

With Israel fighting on two fronts and the General Staff busy with managing the war, Sayeret Matkal found itself without missions to perform.

A reserve company of Sayeret Matkal was also designated specifically for cooperation with the Israeli Air Force, shown by the war to be lacking.

Two years later, on 4 July 1976, came the unit's most famous mission when it spearheaded Operation Entebbe to rescue hostages held in Uganda by at least six Palestinians and two German terrorists supported by regular Ugandan soldiers.

[20][21][22] In September 2024, the unit raided an underground Iranian-built precision missile factory near the Syrian city of Masyaf – around 25 miles (40km) north of the Lebanese border.

The basic requirements for being considered to serve in the unit are a medical profile of 97 (with no disqualifying clauses), a quality category ("kaba") of 52 or more, and an initial psychotechnic grading ("dapar") of 50 or more.

After a surprise mock kidnapping, they are held in prison-like conditions and subjected to interrogation, threats, and physical violence, and forced to perform demeaning activities.

[4] Although Sayeret Matkal has its own insignia, it is also one of only two units in the IDF, the other being Duvdevan, whose soldiers are not allowed to wear it in public due to its classified nature.

[17] There is a widely held misconception that former Israeli major general and former prime minister Ariel Sharon served in Sayeret Matkal.