Inside the Hurricane

TIME visits the worst place of all to be an Israeli soldier--or a Palestinian

Two blasts shatter the chill midnight. The sleepy Israeli soldiers throw down their cigarettes and rush to their heavy machine guns. There's a third percussion and then a fourth from the homemade grenades hurled at "Termite" post by Palestinians at the edge of the Rafah refugee camp. 2nd Lieut. Sama'ana Owdeh stares at the infrared screen linked to Termite's rooftop surveillance camera. He directs the camera at one cinder-block house, then another. His eyes twitch with tension and concentration. "You see them?" he barks to the men at their guns. Another grenade explodes, louder and nearer, and this time a machine...

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