Looks like a bad angle to shoot from. The guys that were shot were rescued from a bit further up from where the rescuers are only half visible, and there is that blue thing in the middle, as somebody pointed out, with bullet holes visible on it.I don't get it...why were the "rescuers" not able to be shot, too -- ran out of ammo??
The million dollar question.And why no infantry screening for the tanks??? Simply missed because of great cover and concealment?
My guess is that due to very urbanized nature of the battlefield, infantry do not feel safe on foot. The armored vehicles atleast have a good chance of preventing death if fired at, even if the vehicle gets damaged.
I think they run into tunnels. In destroyed buildings with rubble all around, it's probably very difficult for IDF to chase the shooters and locate the tunnel openings.Better question IMO is did those that fired the RPG at the tanks survived at all afterward?
Hamas, in 2021, claimed to have more than 500km of tunnels in Gaza alone. For reference, Gaza itself is ~350sqkm.
Ariel Bernstein, a former Israeli soldier who fought in that war, described urban combat in northern Gaza as a mix of “ambushes, traps, hideouts, snipers.”
He recalled the tunnels as having a disorienting, surreal effect, creating blind spots as Hamas gunmen popped up out of nowhere to attack.
“It was like I was fighting ghosts,” he said. “You don’t see them.”
Interestingly, this hit & run tactic was used extensively by Taliban against NATO, in Afghanistan. NATO soldiers complained in interviews that this tactic caused severe psychological issues among the troops, even the ones in armored vehicles. Something of fear and paranoia that made decision-making difficult.