With regard to artillery, the IDF let go of the restraints it once had. Ahead of every ground incursion there was a day of scouting and artillery was fired at the houses that formed the front line. There’s an artillery coordination officer in every unit, that’s his job. He works with maps, talks to the artillery corps and directs fire. I have no doubt – and I say this loud and clear – I have no doubt that artillery was fired on houses. Tanks, too, were firing a lot in there.

In what sort of situation is a tank’s aim directed at a house? A unit commander speaks with the armored corps’ company commander, telling him, “I want you to shoot here, here and here. I’m going to go in there a little while. Shoot, so that if by any chance there are people in there that we don’t know about, at least the house will take a few hits before we enter.” You stay a safe range from the forces and fire.

The D9s (armored bulldozers) are operating during this time? Always. Whenever tanks pass through central routes there will always be a D9 going through and clearing out the terrain before them in every direction, so that they’ll be able to pass through if there’s an explosive device or something in there. One of the high ranking commanders, he really liked the D9s. He was a real proponent of flattening things. He put them to good use. Let’s just say that after every time he was somewhere, all the infrastructure around the buildings was totally destroyed, almost every house had gotten a shell through it. He was very much in favor of that.