GAZA, FEBRUARY 2026 — It’s late afternoon. The sun in the western sky silhouettes Deir al-Balah on the distant horizon. With an M16 in my lap, we bounce along a dirt road pitted by tanks and Humvees in a compact car of dubious quality. Mikaela, a 25-year-old member of the Israeli Defense Force (IDF), sits confidently at the wheel, the Gaza border fence her objective. The car and the M16 are hers. The reason for this brief sortie is entirely mine. In the backseat, and also armed, is my IDF Special Forces guide, Doron.
Doron and I, having made it as far as this IDF checkpoint, inquired if we could continue to the border fence a few hundred meters on. Discovering my journalistic intentions, Mikaela, the only English-speaker of the two IDF guards, gave me a mischievous look that said, If you’re game, I’m game. Moments later, we were on our way. Driving through one of the battlefields of the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel, Doron provides a running commentary:
