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Gaza's Apocalypse Zone

(Vanity Fair) Scott Anderson - To complement whatever intelligence the IDF gets from informants in Gaza, they have built what is probably the most intensive and sophisticated military spying apparatus to be found anywhere in the world. To synthesize the vast amount of information coming in from motion detectors and surveillance cameras as well as images transmitted from circling drones, intelligence specialists - somewhat incongruously, mostly young female soldiers - monitor any activity in their sector. Four days after the killing of 13-year-old Iman al-Hams, commander Ofer faced a very similar situation. "Another girl," he began, "this one was 15, and she just appeared in front of our position. She carried a bag in her hands and walked right toward us. We shouted at her, fired warning shots, but she kept coming. I could see she was just a girl, so finally I went out to confront her....She said she had a bomb in the bag. But when I looked into her eyes, I saw something that made me not believe it....There was no bomb. Apparently, there was some kind of family problem - she had been molested by an uncle or something - and now she was looking to be a shahid, to get me to kill her." A troubled look came into Ofer's eyes. "But the point is," he continued, "I should have shot her. By all the rules and what I tell my men, I never should have let her get that close to me....It's strange to think about. That girl is alive now, she is not dead, because I did the wrong thing."
2005-01-21 00:00:00
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