Is Israel running short of armored vehicles?

On our recent livestream episode, I covered the battles in defense of Khan Younis and the fierce fight in Zeitoun, Gaza City. I also analyzed some of the combat videos that were published this past week.

The Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, released a video of what the group said was its 34th sniper operation using the al-Ghoul anti-materiel rifle, named after the founder of the Qassam weapons industry, Adnan al-Ghoul.

Qassam has filed 30 field reports detailing 57 sniper operations overall since the ground war began at the end of October, their military media said last week.

In the footage, we see a Qassam sniper watching Israeli military snipers using a loophole knocked out of the building they were occupying.

The Qassam Brigades show thermal imaging of the building, indicating that there are multiple soldiers in the building and a sniper using the hole in the wall.

In Khan Younis, Islamic Jihad’s Quds Brigades published footage of a sniper operation against dismounted Israeli soldiers, also with an anti-materiel rifle.

You can watch the segment about the sniper attacks at the top of this page.

Israel using out-dated armored vehicles

In Khan Younis, Qassam Brigades video footage showed multiple Yassin strikes against lightly armored and decades out-of-date M113 troop carriers.

In 2004, Palestinian resistance groups targeted two Israeli military M113s in Gaza City with roadside bombs, killing everyone on board both vehicles. Afterward, the Israeli military announced that the M113 would no longer operate in the Gaza Strip.

However, during the 2014 war, M113s found themselves at the center of the Battle of Shujaiya, when Qassam fighters ambushed a Golani Brigade armored convoy, killing everyone on board.

Again, the Israeli military said the M113 would not operate inside the Gaza Strip anymore.

Still, 115 days into the ground war inside the Gaza Strip, the M113s have appeared for the first time on film. In both cases, they were hit by Yassin 105 tandem warheads that can penetrate many times over the depth of the M113 armor.

You can watch the segment about the M113s in Khan Yunis at the top of this section.

You can watch The Electronic Intifada livestream, usually on Wednesdays, but this week it will be Thursday at 9am PST/12pm EST/5pm GMT, or any time thereafter on our YouTube channel.

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Jon Elmer

Jon Elmer is a contributing editor at The Electronic Intifada. He has reported extensively from the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Watch Jon’s Gaza war coverage: Resistance Report
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