8 men?
Most unplausible, I'd say, until I read it too...
On
this site, which I had always found reliable... Same info on Army Technology website, but same text too, so the source is the same.
When first reading the post, I had assumed it was merely 8 men including the crew, that is, 4 or 5 infantrymen in the back. But 3 stretchers tke more place.
I know the Merkava 3 is much larger than the previous ones, and the 4 is said to be even bigger. It also seems to field an autoloader, so maybe the crew is 3, giving more free room, but where does the ammo go? Or maybe they consider a special "field APC" variant where most of the gun rounds have been removed, and that acts like a heavy battle taxi among other tanks?