According to a new report, the Hamas sniper used a (US made) .50 caliber Barrett sniper rifle to murder IDF Staff Sgt. Aviv Levi (21) on Friday. The shot was fired from a few hundred yards away, according to the Walla report.
There are earlier reports that the sniper used an Iranian-made sniper rifle of the same caliber, based on an Austrian Steyr sniper rifle design, as well as a “homemade” sniper rifle named “Ghoul” after the Izz Al Din al Qassam Brigades terrorist leader Adnan al-Ghoul, who was killed by Israel in 2004.
Due to the size of the caliber and the close range, the bullet was able to penetrate Levi’s ceramic chest armor.
The IDF’s working assumption is that the Hamas sniper received orders to shoot from his immediate commanders or from mid-level commanders, but not from the Hamas leadership, if for no other reason than Hamas leader Ismael Haniyeh was near the fence at the time, and he would not have endangered himself or those with him.