The Israel Defense Forces conducted a tank raid in the northern Gaza Strip.

The IDF press service reported on this on its social media pages.

During the night of October 25-26, the IDF conducted a raid using armored vehicles and tanks in the northern part of the Gaza Strip.

The main goal of the operation was reportedly to prepare for the next stages of hostilities. Presumably, this could regard clearing routes for the main forces to enter as part of the ground operation announced by the Israeli government.

The video shows armored excavators at the head of the column paving the way for four Merkava Mk.4M tanks, which are firing on the move toward the enemy. One of the footage captured two Namer heavy armored personnel carriers.

During the activity, soldiers located and struck numerous terrorists, terror infrastructure, and anti-tank missile launch posts.

At the end of the operation, the units under the command of the 84th “Givati” Brigade left Gaza.

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It is worth noting that most of the vehicles were equipped with cope cages on the roof of the turret, the massive installation of which was noticed last week.

Such designs should further strengthen the protection of Israeli tanks from drone attacks on the upper hemisphere of the tank, where their weakened zone is located.

In early October, Palestinian militants destroyed one of the Merkava Mk.4M tanks using a drone, dropping a PG-7VR anti-tank grenade on the roof of the vehicle.

Cope cages have been used on Merkava tanks before, but these were isolated instances and were intended only to protect against incendiary mixtures and explosives that could be dropped on the tank from windows and rooftops during battles in urban areas.