Burned Alive: Gaza Disaster Exposes Deadly Flaws in IDF’s Puma Vehicle

In a savage attack yesterday (Tuesday), terrorists murdered seven Jewish soldiers from the IDF’s 605th Combat Engineering Battalion in Khan Yunis, Gaza, by attaching an improvised explosive device (IED) to their Puma armored personnel carrier (APC). The IED detonated, engulfing the 50-ton vehicle in flames, burning the soldiers alive, a horrific loss for the 188th Brigade during an operation to dismantle terrorist infrastructure. This tragedy exposes critical flaws in the Puma, a veteran Israeli combat engineering vehicle, and demands urgent action.

The Puma: A Workhorse Under Fire

The Puma, developed by Israel Military Industries and assembled by IDF Ordnance since the early 1990s, is built on the hull of the Sho’t, a modified British Centurion tank. Weighing 50 tons, it stretches 7.55 meters long and 3.38 meters wide (without side skirts), standing 2.75 meters high, with a crew capacity of up to 10. Powered by an AVDS-1790-6A engine delivering 900 hp, it hits 43 km/h cross-country. Armed with three 7.62 mm FN MAG machine guns (one in a Rafael Overhead Weapon Station), a 60 mm Soltam mortar, and two TAAS IS-6 smoke grenade launchers, it’s a versatile beast.

Some Pumas boast the Carpet mine-clearing system, 20 rockets with fuel-air explosive warheads to detonate mines, backed by rollers and electronic jammers for roadside bombs. It can also tow a mobile bridge, pushing it over obstacles to aid tank and infantry advances. Yet, despite its engineering prowess, yesterday’s attack revealed a deadly Achilles’ heel.

How Terrorists Pulled Off This Deadly Strike

The attack’s ease is infuriating. IEDs, crafted from scavenged explosives and triggered by cell phones or timers, are stealthy and simple to attach, likely slapped onto the Puma’s underbelly or flank, its weakest armored points, during a crowd or brief halt. The Puma’s design lacks add-on defenses like slat ("cage") armor, leaving it vulnerable to shaped charges or explosively formed penetrators (EFPs), tactics refined by insurgents from Iraq to Gaza. These charges, echoing WWII’s German Hafthohlladung, pierce armor with terrifying precision, turning a halted vehicle into a fireball. This wasn’t luck; it was a calculated slaughter exploiting a known gap.

What makes it worse is that the terrorists have been watching the IDF in action for over 600 days. They know our playbook by now and they use it at every opportunity.

This is how the tragedy unfolded:

The 188th Brigade was operating in Khan Younis, during a combat event in which a fighter jet was scrambled to drop a bomb on a target very close to the force.

According to operational safety procedures, when a fighter jet drops a bomb near a force, the soldiers are required to enter armored vehicles to avoid being hit by shrapnel or debris from the airstrike. This is a well-known procedure frequently implemented in the Gaza Strip. The seven soldiers, following protocol, entered the Puma armored vehicle for a short time during the fighter jet’s strike.

And that was how they tragically met their end.

While the soldiers were inside the Puma armored vehicle, a terrorist emerged, approached the vehicle, and within a matter of seconds climbed onto the Puma.

The terrorist threw an explosive device into the vehicle from above while the soldiers were inside. It is estimated that the soldiers were hit immediately upon the explosion of the device, within the first seconds of the event.

Why It’s So Easy For Hamas

The outrage deepens with the reasons behind this vulnerability. IEDs are lean and local, needing no complex supply chains, just scavenged materials and ingenuity. Gaza’s dense urban terrain offers perfect cover for terrorists to sneak close, while the Puma’s armor mismatch, lacking slat armor or active defenses found on tanks, leaves it exposed. Tactical surprise seals the deal: a quick attachment delivers a lethal blow before the crew can react. With 10 soldiers packed inside, including its standard eight, the Puma became a death trap yesterday.

A Recurring Threat

This isn’t new. IED attacks on IDF vehicles in Gaza have spiked, with terrorists leveraging tunnels and chaos. The Puma’s 1990s design, while upgraded with mine-clearing and bridging capabilities, clearly falters against modern threats without enhanced protection. Without fixes, more Jewish lives will burn.

What Can Be Done?

The IDF must fight back with fury. Retrofit Pumas with slat armor or netting to thwart shaped charges. Deploy combat engineers for route clearance, sweeping for IEDs ahead of vehicle moves. Launch drones and sensors for relentless aerial surveillance to catch terrorists red-handed. Train crews for on-the-move checks and ironclad security, even during defusing ops. This isn’t a nice idea, it's the difference between more destroyed families crying as the coffin of their teenager is lowered into the ground.

Bottom Line

This Khan Yunis atrocity proves it: terrorists can easily slap a shaped-charge IED onto a vulnerable Puma, turning a proud engineering vehicle into a funeral pyre. With minimal tools and local know-how, they exploit armor flaws and tactical lapses. The IDF must armor up and outsmart these killers, or more soldiers will die in flames, in a preventable loss.