Twenty years after a Hezbollah anti-ship missile struck INS Hanit during the Second Lebanon War, survivors of the attack are sharing firsthand accounts of the night that nearly claimed their ship. On June 4, 2006, a C-802 missile fired from southern Lebanon pierced the Israeli Navy corvette, killing four sailors and leaving the crew facing moments of extreme uncertainty and terror.
In a video released by i24NEWS, crew members describe the attack unfolding during Shabbat dinner preparations. One moment, sailors were breaking bread, a tradition marking the start of the weekend. The next, a massive explosion created a silence so profound that for seconds, no one understood what had happened.
"There was a boom that created a silence you can't create anywhere," one survivor recounts in the video. "Everyone looked at each other. Forks were near their mouths. No one knew what was happening."
The initial impact brought immediate danger. A massive fuel tank fire erupted, threatening to engulf the entire vessel. Crew members faced a nightmare scenario: whether to abandon ship or fight to save it. The uncertainty about casualties compounded the crisis. Sailors didn't know in those early moments whether they should evacuate or attempt to keep the ship afloat.
"There were long hours of uncertainty about what we were dealing with," one crew member says. "We didn't know who survived the impact or how many we lost. We just knew something terrible had happened."
