Israel Matzav

Does Hamas have armor-piercing RPG's?

There's a very disturbing report that appeared on Channel 10 (cable news) last night that claims that Hamas may have armor-piercing RPG's. If it's true, it would be a new danger to Israeli tanks operating in the Gaza Strip. Thirty IDF soldiers were killed and forty tanks were damaged in Lebanon in the summer of 2006 by armor-piercing RPG's hitting tanks. At the time, the IDF was unprepared. We've had a year and a half since then. Refael developed the Trophy system to protect tanks in response (link includes video). Has anything changed? Was the tank involved in Gaza protected by the Trophy system? Have the 'Palestinians' developed something more advanced than the missiles Hezbullah used year and a half ago?

Palestinians in the Gaza Strip have managed to penetrate an IDF Merkava tank using a missile and the army is now checking if double headed anti-tank missiles have made their way to Gaza, Channel 10 reported Wednesday.

According to the report, the missile was fired at an IDF tank on Tuesday and its jet stream passed between the tank's soldiers, who subsequently suffered from smoke inhalation.

Details released by the IDF about the incident on Tuesday said that four soldiers had inhaled smoke and suffered minor bruises, but had not stated that the RPG had actually managed to penetrate the tank.

The army said that the tank's defense systems had functioned properly and that these were sufficient in dealing with the threats in Gaza.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 11:09 AM