Following the fall of the fighters in the ground maneuver in Gaza, we returned to the main battles in the history of the region that has always known constant fighting - the Gaza Strip.
Protective Edge: The tunnel mission is complete // Photo: IDF Spokesperson
2004 - APC disaster
The APC disaster was a pair of terrorist attacks in the Gaza Strip on May 11 and 12, 2004, in which two IDF M-113 APCs and their crews were attacked and destroyed by Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists. Thirteen soldiers were killed in the attacks: six in the first attack, in the Zeitoun neighborhood; Five in the second offensive, in Rafah, and two more in the battles that developed during the rescue attempts in Rafah.
In the first APC disaster, an armored force of the Givati Brigade carried out an operation in the Zeitun neighborhood on the outskirts of Gaza City. As they were leaving the neighborhood, the force discovered that the platoon armored personnel carrier had disappeared. Further scanning revealed that the APC had been completely destroyed as a result of an explosion. Six soldiers were killed in the explosion, and Hamas terrorists abused the remains.
M-113 armored personnel carrier, photo: AFP
The second APC disaster occurred when, a day later, on May 12, an M-113 armored personnel carrier belonging to the tunnel crew of the Knights of Steel Company, belonging to the Gaza Division, was blown up during an operation along the Philadelphi Route on the Egyptian border.
Palestinians standing on the roof of a building fired RPG-7 rockets at the APC and the bulldozer that accompanied it. The bulldozer sustained minor damage, but the rocket that hit the APC penetrated it, detonating the explosives it was carrying. All five crew members were killed. During the rescue operation, two more soldiers guarding the area were killed.
2014 - Battle of Shejaiya
During Operation Protective Edge, a very fierce battle took place in the Shejaiya neighborhood of Gaza City, during which 13 Golani fighters were killed, while the body of one of the fighters, Staff Sergeant Oron Shaul, was abducted by Hamas terrorists and is still being held by the Hamas terrorist organization.
Hamas militants in the Sajaiya neighborhood during the fighting in Protective Edge, photo: AFP
The complications of the battle in the neighborhood were caused by the deactivation of five tanks from the armored convoy advancing towards the neighborhood. Thus, two tanks and two APCs of the outdated M-113 model entered Shejaiya. The forward armored personnel carrier, which was carrying nine soldiers, got stuck on one of the streets in the neighborhood as the two leading tanks pulled away from it.
The terrorists took advantage of the situation and fired anti-tank missiles at the APC, causing it to catch fire. A very fierce battle took place at the scene, which ended with the entry of armored Merkava armored personnel carriers in order to rescue the soldiers. At the end of the battle, it turned out that six of the fighters in the APC had been killed and that the body of a soldier had been abducted by Hamas terrorists.
2014 - Battle of Rafah
On August 1, during Operation Protective Edge, the warring sides ceased to cease for 72 hours. The Hamas terrorist organization does not regularly abide by the agreements and has violated the agreements.
In a terrorist attack during the ceasefire, a group of terrorists went out of a tunnel in the city of Rafah near a Givati Patrol force operating in the area and attacked the fighters who had been instructed to hold the fire. The terrorists killed three soldiers of the force, including Major Binya Sarel, Lieutenant Hadar Goldin and Staff Sergeant Liel Gidoni, and snatched the body of Lieutenant Goldin into the tunnel.
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