Auto-translated key points from Hebrew A visit to Rafah with the infantry battalion commander who fought the longest in a row against Hamas, over a year and in all sectors of the Gaza Strip. Some insights from Lt. Col. Oz Meshulam:

1. Very tough with his subordinates and doesn't see eye to eye - he has so far fired about 30 fighters, out of over a thousand who have passed through his battalion since the outbreak of the war.
2. Most of his soldiers shower, even today, once every 30, 40 days, even though there are showers in Philadelphia. Cell phones are allowed for an hour a day, even though the IDF has also placed a cellular antenna there
3. "Operational discipline is critical, especially after so long in combat. I don't want confused fighters and I prefer them smelly and not in any other condition," he tells me. "They have rounds of home visits and well-deserved refreshments after a month and a half and most of them have already gone out for 2 or 3 regular ones, but during the operational weeks I would prefer them to sleep in shelters (Gaza houses that the IDF has occupied) rather than in the posts that have been set up."
4. Lt. Col. Oz, 35, from the Jezreel Valley, is finishing his His term is now. His second son was born at the height of the maneuver. He, like many field commanders in Gaza, abhors lies and spin that sell to the public: "Hamas is a bottomless pit, but it cannot be defeated in a year after it was built over 10-20 years."
5. Oz's fighters eliminate an average of 3-5 terrorists a day, which is equivalent to 20-30 in the maneuver that ended in February: "If we operate systematically and efficiently like we are doing in Rafah, and don't just say so, there is no reason for us to return to fight in the same place, like they returned to Jabaliya on the third, and we killed over 30 fighters there in the current operation there. We will defeat Hamas and we will be able to say this to the Israeli people honestly only if we operate effectively, not with sketches and slogans."
6. What does he mean by actions? Industrial demolition of Gazan buildings, and the tunnels beneath them. In the Shavura neighborhood alone, the forces leveled over 300 buildings. Down to the last detail. No damage to buildings, no J-Dam, no tank shell, no IED. Obliteration of buildings. Plateau. "When you take away the buildings above them and the tunnels below, the terrorists have nowhere to return because then we will identify them and eliminate them from the air," explains the 7th Battalion Commander. In the Nahal sector, 6 bodies of the kidnapped were found who were murdered by their captors in the summer, in a tunnel. This resonates with Oz and his subordinates every day and he admits: "It's a tightrope walk, to be aggressive and offensive on the one hand and to protect the lives of our kidnapped on the other. The soldier at the end doesn't deal with it, he's a bad animal sent on a mission and this is sitting with us, the commanders. It was clearly more possible to act against Hamas when there were no kidnapped people in the field. Sometimes these two goals clash."
7. Oz's fighters have a productive mind and a sophisticated approach: Every month they come up with tricks to get the terrorists out of their holes and eliminate them. "The best brilliance comes from the young people who come up from the BAH. New blood does us good in such a long fight."
8. 18 fighters were killed for him since 7.10, including company commanders, and the lessons of every investigation of his casualties were passed on to the last soldier in the battalion: "My fighters have matured a lot, they have become rough. They are no longer excited about killing a terrorist."
9. During a meeting with him in Rafah, a sniper opens fire on a Lidin force, which was engaged in extracting a stuck D9. Oz describes the incident on an automatic, coolly, almost indifferently, as a natural and daily action: "Go out on a violent patrol; give up to 3 mortars to take down heads; take out a N.C. into battle; "Close the angle from the east with the UAV; be sharp for a collision; check the sniper's shooting. He's apparently where we were yesterday."