Tragic Puma disaster that killed seven soldiers in Khan Yunis reportedly caused by broken exit hatch, outdated equipment.
New details have emerged on the Puma APC disaster which left seven combat engineers dead.
A Kan News report revealed that the APC’s exit hatch was broken, and soldiers testified that the commanders were aware of the malfunctions.
According to Kan, the soldiers had tied the hatch with a rope, leaving it open, and the terrorist threw the explosive device into the vehicle through it. Additionally, the cameras on the APC had not been working for a long period of time.
On Wednesday night, the IDF and Shin Bet announced that two of the terrorists responsible for the deaths of the seven soldiers were eliminated in a joint operation. According to the statement, the terrorists, Musab Yaser Abdallah Jilban and Abd al-Latif Musa Hajjaj Barbah, members of Hamas, were killed in an airstrike by the Israeli Air Force last Thursday.
The seven soldiers who were killed in the disaster were: Cpl. Alon Davidov, 21, from Kiryat Yam; Lt. Matan Shai Yeshinovski, 21, from Kfar Yona; Cpl. Ronal Ben-Moshe, 20, from Rehovot; Cpl. Niv Radian, 20, from Elhulin; Sgt. Ronen Shapiro, 19, from Mazkeret Batya; Sgt. Shahar Menuvav, 21, from Ashkelon; and Sgt. Maayan Baruch Perlstein, 20, from Ashhar, who were all fighters in Battalion 605.
Last week, a father of a soldier in the battalion said that the soldiers were using outdated equipment without perimeter cameras or a “Trophy” system, due to budgetary reasons.
“This is the only battalion with old Puma vehicles, which are outdated. Other battalions use Namer APCs,” the father said. “The vehicles are so old that every few weeks the engine has to be replaced,” he added.
“It turns out that the army has established a new battalion — 607 — and they have Namer APCs. The battalion is based at the Military Engineering School, and I ask myself if it wouldn’t be better to bring those Namer APCs to the battalion already in Gaza since January,” he said.
That evening, parents of soldiers in the battalion sent a letter to the battalion commander, describing the incident as “avoidable and preventable.”
“We are shocked and horrified by the negligence that became apparent in full force during the serious and horrifying event in which we lost seven precious soldiers, our finest sons whom we entrusted to you, due to gross negligence. It is unthinkable that your battalion is the only one in the IDF still using old, faulty vehicles without the protection that every other infantry battalion, including other engineering battalions, receives as standard,” the parents wrote.
