GEOFF BENNETT: Now for a rare view of the
Israel-Hamas war from an Israeli infantryman. Sam Sank is a British Israeli whose period
of service has just ended. In normal life, he works in information technology. For his months of
fighting in Gaza, he carried a small video camera. And special correspondent Malcolm
Brabant sat down with him in London. MALCOLM BRABANT: This is the video diary
of the soldier behind the officer on point. MASTER SGT. SAM SANK, Israeli Defense Forces
Reservist: Tog
ether, with my brothers in arms, we're part of history. This will probably be a very significant event in the history
of the Middle East, let alone Israel. MALCOLM BRABANT: Master sergeant Sam Sank. MASTER SGT. SAM SANK: It's also
good for the world to see as well, and it shows the true experience of a soldier
on the front line, and maybe shows a different side to what one sees through propaganda
or social media as soldiers. And, actually, as you can see now, I'm a real person
with real emo
tion and real thoughts. Yes, yesterday was awful. This place stinks, smell
of dead bodies everywhere. Not a great start. MALCOLM BRABANT: Sam Sank went
to war on October the 7th, immediately after the terrorist attack by
Hamas. After training in Northern Israel with his company, or pluga, Sank entered
Gaza several weeks into the conflict... MASTER SGT. SAM SANK: We have just entered Gaza. MALCOLM BRABANT: ... and
spent nearly two months there. MASTER SGT. SAM SANK: Here we go. Here we go. Y
esterday was a really, really bad day.
Two guys from our pluga got injured, one quite seriously, was in a helicopter to
the hospital. Both were shot in the back. Man, two secs. Just going to check out this pier. MALCOLM BRABANT: As second in command of his
platoon, Sank ventures forward to examine the entrance of a Hamas tunnel beneath Khan Yunis,
once home to a quarter-of-a-million Palestinians. MASTER SGT. SAM SANK: Gaza is arguably
one of the most dense places in the world, and Hamas has
decided to use that as a battlefield
and to use human shields to protect themselves and to put all the civilians above the ground and all
their ammunition and terrorists below the ground. A few Israeli soldiers were
killed at that specific spot, so after weeks of fighting, we were
able to locate the tunnel entrances. MALCOLM BRABANT: People who are watching that might think that you are cheering
Palestinians' homes being blown up. MASTER SGT. SAM SANK: So, the context of that
video is the
tunnel being destroyed. And, for us, it was a sense of achievement,
knowing that we had killed Hamas terrorists that were still hiding underneath, and we had
eliminated a big threat to our soldiers' lives. We're in Central Khan Yunis, Eastern-Central Khan
Yunis, in a new house, sitting here on guard duty with my main man, Leshem. Here, you can see
close to big a mosque, very urban area. This is going to be our new home for the next few
days, but feeling good, liking the new area. MALCOLM B
RABANT: Sank's war is over. He's returned to his civilian job in I.T.
and now has time to reflect. How can you justify all those thousands of women
and children being killed during this conflict? MASTER SGT. SAM SANK: I don't
think I can justify the numbers, but I can explain why that's happened. We are dealing with an organization
that has decided to put civilians at the forefront of their
bases, of their battlefield. Welcome to Southern Khan Yunis.
We're in a house. Look at the lovely Je
rusalem -- Jerusalem decorations
on the wall. Arrived here yesterday. Crazy, crazy dissonance coming into a more urban
area like this. It was insane, honestly, at night, seeing -- going through
the city, seeing destroyed buildings. MALCOLM BRABANT: Do you think there might
have been a better way of fighting this war to really more accurately target those
people who were responsible for starting it? MASTER SGT. SAM SANK: I think, if there was a
better way of doing it, then it would have bee
n done, because I trust in the strategic command
of the IDF in Israel to make the best decision to protect its soldiers and to protect the
Palestinian civilians as much as possible. MALCOLM BRABANT: Do you feel as though Israel
has fallen into a trap created by Hamas, because they knew that Israel would come in and, in the end, if it kept going, would
end up perhaps losing world opinion? MASTER SGT. SAM SANK: Yes, for sure.
Hamas set the trap up. It's the ploy that Hamas and other terrorist
Palestinian
organizations have been using for many years. Unfortunately, Israel doesn't have a choice
and has to move into that trap, because if, again, we want to defeat the enemy, destroy
the terrorists and bring our people back, we have to go into Gaza. The world, as I see it,
will always be against Israel in this conflict. There is an underlying antisemitism that exists.
This is just our generation's persecution of Jews. Hopefully, it will be a couple quiet days
before we're eventuall
y supposed to leave, final Shabbat in Gaza. Can't wait to go home.
Can't believe how long it's been. I'm just counting down the hours, literally. Everyone's
making fun of me, but I'm counting down the hours. But I'm desperate for this all to be over.
I just want to get back to normal life. MALCOLM BRABANT: Do you think you could
ever live side by side with Palestinians? MASTER SGT. SAM SANK: A hundred percent. You look at conflicts that have
existed over the history of the world, people tha
t hated each other with a
passion and are now living together in peace. Whether I think it will be
a happy peace, maybe not. But even a cold peace is better than what exists today.
And, yes, I truly believe that it can happen. And if the Palestinians love their children
more than they hate ours, there will be peace. If they start celebrating life, rather
than celebrating death, there will be peace. MALCOLM BRABANT: For now, such a
peace remains in the realm of dreams, despite suggestions t
hat progress is being made. For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm Malcolm Brabant.
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