New Footage Shows Latest Hamas Kill Against Israeli Armour

New footage released from the Palestinian Gaza Strip has shown continued operations by militiamen from Hamas engaging Israeli armoured vehicles. As in previous videos, the Palestinian combatants were shown attaching explosives, in this case a magnetic mine, to Israeli armour, before firing on them with rocket propelled grenades. The vehicle targeted in the latest video was a Namer armoured personnel carrier, which is a derivative of the Merkava IV chassis sacrificing the 120mm main gun for a carrying capacity of nine personnel in additional to the standard three crew. The vehicle class entered production in 2008, and over 100 are estimated to be operational.

At over 60 tons Namer vehicles are significantly heavier than most battle tanks and offer some of the highest levels of protection of any personnel carriers in the world, although their extreme sizes have raised questions regarding their cost effectiveness both to produce and to operate with fuel consumption being higher than those of most tank classes. After firing on the vehicle Hamas combatants proceeded to fire with automatic weapons on the Israeli personnel who appeared to have previously been embarked within in. Israeli armour has continued to take significant combat losses in Gaza, particularly in the conflict’s initial week in early October when Hamas militias captured over 100 Israeli armoured vehicles including multiple Merkava IV tanks which were reportedly destroyed to deny them to advancing Israeli forces.