A humanitarian ceasefire would give Hamas time to find answers for Israeli Chariot-4s

Windbreaker armor
DEBKAfile Exclusive Analysis July 24, 2014, 1:16 PM (IDT)
Tags: IDF, Hamas, Gaza, ceasefire, Chariot tanks, John Kerry, Khaled Meshaal,

The Armored Shield Protection-Active Trophy aka Windbreaker
Thursday, July 24, the 17th day of the IDFs Gaza operation, Israeli ministers were discussing a
possible humanitarian ceasefire in IDF-Hamas hostilities, which could last up to five days.
According to debkafile's military sources, it is Hamas which, behind its tough stance, is keen on
a pause and not just out of sudden concern for Gazas civilians. Its tacticians are desperate to
find a chink in the Chariot-4 tanks Armored Shield Protection-Active Trophy missile defense
system, known as the Windbreaker. The 401st armored brigade is the only IDF unit with this
armor.
Hamas has tried to stop these tanks with two kinds of advanced guided anti-tank missiles, the
Russian Kornet-E, and the 9M113 Konkurs. But Windbreaker repels them and blows them all
up.
Wednesday July 23 the IDF deliberately placed brigade commander Col. Sa'ar Tzur, one of the
outstanding commanders in Operation Protective Edge, before TV cameras, while standing in
front of a Chariot-4 tank.
He spoke at length about the brigades unstoppable performance under anti-tank missile fire.
Those missiles are blown up without penetrating the tanks armor, he said, and are powerless to
slow their advance.
Hamas has found no answer for the Active Trophy defense system, any more than it has for the
Iron Dome anti-missile defense batteries, which keep Israeli civilian populations safe from its
rockets. Both systems are home-made, developed by Rafael advanced armed systems industries.
Hamas is not giving up, which is why it is holding out against a long ceasefire, but aiming for
just enough time to come up with new stratagems, debkafile's military sources say.
This was the message conveyed in the statement Hamas leader Khaled Meshal made Wednesday
July 23 in Qatar: He rejected a long-term ceasefire, but left the door open for a "humanitarian"
pause.
While its forces have taken serious punishment, most of Hamas underground command and
military infrastructure is still far from knocked out. But if the Israeli military decides to go for a
decisive coup against those core facilities defined by the Israeli security cabinets euphemism
of "expanding the operation - Hamas chiefs expect it to be spearheaded by a fleet of Chariot-4
tanks hurtling towards them behind the protection of their impenetrable Windbreakers.
To maintain any kind of draw with the IDF, Hamas stands in urgent need of two resources: 1)
Technology for neutralizing the Windbreaker; and 2) Missiles able to pierce it.
While Khaled Meshal haggles with ceasefire brokers in Qatar, his agents are known to have
appealed urgently to Tehran to find the weapons they need and deliver them at top speed to the
Gaza Strip possibly from Libya by the Iranian-terrorists arms smuggling route through Egypt.
A reference to this appeal was made in a comment by a senior military intelligence official
Wednesday, when he disclosed that Iran had promised to rebuild Hamas' military machine,
including its rocket production and launch systems. Hamas and Tehran also broached the
problem of the Chariot-4 armor. Both fully understood that unless it can be solved, Hamas may
have no way of defending its high command and arsenal in their elaborately furnished
underground bunkers.
US Secretary of State John Kerry has all these facts to hand, fed by a steady stream of
intelligence from US informants in and over the battlefield. His efforts for a ceasefire are based
on his perception that Israel has so far not managed to inflict a clear defeat on Hamas and needs
to expand its operation to tip the scales.
He calculates that if Israel launches its final thrust, which has not yet been approved, it will not
accept a ceasefire before achieving its goal, and this may take at least a week to ten days.
But if Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon hold off on
Israels decisive attack, then negotiations can start for a truce of some kind, while both sides size
up their respective situations and decide whether or not it is to their advantage.