Fauda third season opener a big hit in Israel

Lior Raz in Fauda season two (Netflix Canada photo)

The first episode of the third season of the hit Israeli drama Fauda was viewed by Israelis about 1 million times in the 48 hours after it first aired.

The Israeli drama, in Hebrew and Arabic, received a 12.6 per cent share of viewers during its debut on Thursday night, according to a trade website, citing the YES satellite company.

Fauda focuses on a commando unit of the Israeli Defence Forces whose members embed themselves in the Palestinian community, gathering intelligence and preventing terror attacks. Netflix has aired its first two seasons with English subtitles. The third season will be aired on Netflix sometime in 2020.

The third season reportedly will focus its attention on Gaza.

The show was broadcast Thursday night on the YES Action Channel and then was available on YES VOD and on the YES YouTube channel.

Its creators are Avi Issacharoff, the Arab affairs reporter for the English-language Times of Israel news website, and actor Lior Raz, who stars in the show. Both men served in the IDF unit depicted in the series.

Last week the series was ranked eighth on The New York Times list of the 30 best international television shows of the decade.