An anti-tank missile struck an Israel Defense Forces patrol vehicle on the Gaza border on Wednesday.
I was near the site where it happened, watching the crew of a tank that was busy loading the destroyed vehicle onto a transporter. Ambulances rushed by en route to the scene of the attack. Over time, two incidents unfolded.
The use of anti-tank missiles, often Kornet missiles, has plagued Israel for years.
On May 5, 2019, a car was hit by a similar missile. That attack, during increased tensions along the border, happened near Route 34, which runs close to the border for several kilometers and is exposed to snipers from the Gaza Strip. It has an adjoining road that goes to the Kibbutz Erez, which is right on the border.
Drivers who travel along Route 34 will join it from Route 4 from Ashkelon or Sderot.
This isn’t the only part of the border that is exposed. There are many others, too, such as near Nahal Oz, or in the many crop fields that run right up to the border.
The areas of Zikim and Netiv Ha’asara, where the incident happened, are also exposed. There was an attack on a school bus near Sha’ar HaNegev in 2011 and another bus was hit near Kfar Aza in 2018 after soldiers had disembarked.
The Russian-made Kornet anti-tank guided missile, often called ATGM as an acronym, is accurate and effective. It has a range of around 5.5 kilometers and has been used by Hamas and other terrorist groups for years. In 2015, Hezbollah fired several ATGMs against Israeli Humvees on the border.
ISIS also got hold of ATGMs in Sinai in 2015. Hamas is thought to have accrued the missiles over the years from Iran and other sources. It has used them in the Gaza Strip during fighting against Israeli ground forces in the past, too.
Given its range, the Kornet poses a major threat along the border, although efforts to keep Hamas at a distance, including by clearing areas along the fence, using sophisticated surveillance and monitoring technology and erecting walls, barriers and the fence, have all decreased the threat.
Nevertheless, as was revealed on May 12, the ATGM threat is one that must be taken into account. After the incident on Wednesday, I drove to Zikim, a pretty coastal community close to the Gaza border. The bucolic and pleasant air in Zikim masks the threat just a few kilometers away.
A local security guard warned that as we sat watching Gaza, we were under threat from ATGMs. The scene below, with the fields and houses of the kibbutzim along the border, shows how precarious the situation can be if Hamas chooses to use more of these weapons.