During briefings, is there talk about civilians who might be in the area?There is no civilian population. They're terrorists, all of them.

I understand that this is the general vibe, but is this what guides the unit on a systemic level? Yes. There are no innocents. What business does he have coming within 500 meters of my tank?

What do they (the commander)s say?We go in and if we identify suspects, we shoot them. In the briefing, [they say] we're here to stand guard and we want them to learn they're not allowed to come out. The IDF has declared a buffer zone as far as it's concerned, 1.5 kilometers from the fence inwards (in the direction of Gaza), which is going to be a razed area and civilians won't be allowed to be there. It's all farmland. We come back with the tanks [while there are] piles of irrigation pipes in the [tank] tracks. Finished. No more. A building overlooking the fence will be demolished.

Why?Because it overlooks the fence, and they can shoot at the fence from there. We're done with that. Really, that's the order. We're done with the bullshit. No more games.

Did you happen to be around for a demolition of a build­ing that "overlooks" [the fence]?Yeah. What is a building demolition? The "bear", the D9 (armored bulldozer), drives and mows down everything in its path. It's not something unusual or something you make special preparations for. You're going somewhere, that's the excuse. Essentially, ev­erything gets mowed down, everything.

What is "everything"? Everything is everything. Everything that's built.

Orchards?Yes.

Cowsheds, chicken coops? Yes, yes.

Every building and every structure? Every building and every structure. Everything.

What does the area look like after? Hiroshima. That's what I'm saying, Hiroshima.