Rafah Offensive: How Israel Will Use the World's Deadliest Tank

As Israel prepares for a full-scale invasion of the southern Gaza city of Rafah, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) are expected to use their most advanced artillery and weaponry in the coming offensive, including one of the world's deadliest tanks.

The IDF posted photos showing a pair of Merkava tanks entering Rafah last week, as part of what it called a "precise counterterrorism operation to eliminate Hamas terrorists" holed up in the city.

Developed by Israel in the 1970s, the Merkava — meaning "Chariot" in Hebrew — has evolved into a critical asset for the IDF, prioritizing crew survival above all else. Merkavas were initially deployed during the 1982 Lebanon War, where they effectively countered Soviet T-72 battle tanks in the Beqaa Valley.

Military experts and specialized publications consistently rank the Merkava among the world's most advanced armored vehicles, on par with the M1 Abrams developed by the Pentagon that's been the workhorse for U.S. troops in recent conflicts like the Iraq War.

"The [Gaza] war not only showcases the adaptability of armored units in urban settings but also severely undermines the perception of tanks as obsolete, a view that gained traction following the challenges faced by armor in the Ukraine War," Yaakov Lappin, an Israeli defense and security analyst, wrote in a recent blog post for the ALMA Research and Education Center, an Israeli think tank focused on researching security challenges in the country.

Since 2004, the IDF has relied on the Merkava IV as its primary battle tank. Features of the fourth-generation vehicle include a front-mounted engine for enhanced crew protection against frontal assaults and a rear compartment capable of transporting infantry.

With space for up to eight infantry soldiers, the tank also features an all-electric turret and a sophisticated protection suite capable of electromagnetic threat detection.

One of the pioneering armored vehicles equipped with the Trophy Active Protection System (APS), the Merkava also boasts the world's only fully operational and combat-validated APS against anti-tank guided missiles.

The Trophy APS, jointly developed by Israel's Rafael Advanced Defense Systems and the Elta Group of Israel Aircraft Industries, features four radar antennas and fire-control radars to track potential threats like anti-tank guided missiles (ATGMs) and rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs).

When a threat is detected, the Trophy system deploys a blast to neutralize the incoming projectile.

According to Lappin, the integration of the Trophy active protection system allows IDF tanks to penetrate Hamas defenses and anti-tank ambush positions in densely populated urban combat zones.

"On the whole, the usage of tanks and the Trophy system in Gaza stands in stark contrast to the experiences of armor in Ukraine, where Russian tanks have often been severely vulnerable to ATGMs and other anti-armor weapons," the analyst wrote.

Last week, the IDF began advancing into Rafah, which shares a border with Egypt in southern Gaza as well as a major crossing point for humanitarian aid. The early stages of the offensive were put into motion in spite of protests from Israel's main allies in the U.S., who have noted that more than a million Palestinians are sheltering in the city and argue that Israel has not made clear how it intends to evacuate civilians ahead of time.

President Joe Biden said last Wednesday that he would not supply certain bombs to Israel for potential use in Rafah, acknowledging that those weapons have caused Palestinian civilian casualties in other parts of Gaza. That decision was condemned by, among others, Israel's far-right minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who posted on X with an emoji: "Hamas (Loves) Biden."

Michael Pursell, a retired U.S. Marine lieutenant colonel who now teaches at George Washington University, said the use of Merkavas in Rafah is part of the IDF's strategy of forcing Hamas into a more conventional fight.

"The viability of this strategy is however not accepted by [Secretary of State] Antony Blinken and many military analysts," Pursell told Newsweek. "They believe that any conventional military victory over a decentralized and networked Hamas without an effective post-conflict program will only produce temporary tactical benefits."