In a first for the Israeli action drama “Fauda,” producers have informed viewers that episodes 7 and 8 of the current season are based on the Hamas terrorist onslaught of October 7, 2023, and include content that may be difficult to watch.

“We want to say clearly: These episodes return to that terrible day and stand on their own,” production studio Yes wrote on social media. “If watching them is too difficult, it is also fine to skip them and reconnect with the season’s plot, which will continue in the episode airing next week.”

In recognition of their public significance, the two episodes have been made available to everyone for free on the Yes website.

Season 5 of “Fauda” premiered several weeks ago in Israel on Yes and is expected to be the show’s final season. A date hasn’t yet been set for screening on the streaming platform Netflix.

“Fauda” creators Lior Raz and Avi Issacharoff had to rewrite the latest season after October 7, given the reality of the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip, and what the cast and crew underwent themselves.

Actor Idan Amedi, who appeared in seasons 2, 3 and 4 of “Fauda,” and was slated to appear in the original version of Season 5, was seriously injured in an explosion while serving in the Combat Engineering Corps reserves in Gaza in January 2024.

Amedi has recovered, but doesn’t appear in the new season.

A longtime “Fauda” crew member, Matan Meir, was killed by a blast from a booby-trapped tunnel shaft next to a mosque in Beit Hanoun, in the northern Gaza Strip, in December 2023.

The first episode of the season was dedicated to Meir.

Raz, who is also the lead actor on the show, was abroad on October 7 and flew home on October 8 to join the volunteer forces of Brothers in Arms, which set up a command center to rescue those stuck in the south under heavy fire.

The revised season is set two years after October 7, dealing with life after the trauma and shock of the Hamas attack and its effect on the characters.

In the first episode, Eli (Yaakov Zada-Daniel) and Salem (Bian........

© The Times of Israel