Hamas military blows up another Merkava tank in Gaza

The military wing of the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas has targeted another Israeli-controlled Merkava tank amid the Gaza war, killing and wounding several crew members. 

The Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades said in a Saturday statement that its fighters had used the Shawaz-type bombs to blow up a Merkava tank stationed in the center of the city of Khan Yunis in southern Gaza.

It said the Israeli regime then dispatched three helicopters to evacuate the dead and wounded from the scene of the attack.

Hamas has successfully targeted scores of Israeli tanks and military equipment since the regime started its ground invasion of Gaza in late October.

The attacks have destroyed the invincibility myth surrounding Israel’s multi-million dollar Merkava tanks.

Hundreds of Israeli soldiers and dozens of senior commanders are believed to have been killed in recent months in attacks by the Hamas military wing or other groups involved in the fighting in Gaza.

The Al-Quds Brigades, which is the military wing of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement, said on Saturday that it had targeted a gathering of Israeli forces and their vehicles and equipment in a northern neighborhood of Khan Yunis.

There was also heavy fighting between resistance fighters and Israeli regime forces in central Gaza late on Saturday.

More than 32,000 people have been killed in Gaza since Israel launched its one-sided war on the Palestinian enclave in early October.

The invasion began after Hamas led a historic operation into the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories near Gaza, killing some 1,200 Israeli settlers and military forces and taking hundreds more as captives.