To begin with, we were with paratroopers of the 202 Battalion. A company in training took over the house we were in.

You were downstairs, outside?No, the tank was downstairs, outside; we were with them sleeping indoors.

No one inside the tank?What do you mean, no one? We'd go down and be there all day and all night. There were three tanks, essentially.

You took turns?Yes. I think our company commander was in charge of this designated area; he kept riding around in a Hummer the whole time, he had his command-staff inside the Hummer. Our guys set up our war-room at "Anat". The house we took over we called Anat, it was in Masaken Sha'abiyah. It was a good house, I mean it had a good command of the whole area. The family was removed from the top floor, and a doorway was blasted for them downstairs. Once in a while we'd throw them some leftovers of our supplies, because we're moral.

They were forbidden to get out of the house?They could get out. They were forbidden to have friends over. They were forbidden to get out at certain times, but they could run a normal life in there. That's it, everything there – whoever is familiar with this reality – you hardly see them in this everyday routine, they're not allowed to speak to you. In short, the house is no longer their own.

So you would constantly be moving from the tank into the house.Yes, there were two tanks in the parking area. This area is actually a kind of clearing. They had this orchard there; I don't know what they were growing. We took over the house and whenever one tank would go out on a mission, the other tank would be worked on (maintenance) and the team would go upstairs to rest, every eight or twelve hours, depending on the mission. We'd rotate. So there was always one crew in "Anat" and another out in town.