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: Together, 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 emotion 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.

Yesterday 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 BRABANT: 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 Jerusalem -- 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 been 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 eventually 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 that 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 that progress is being made.

For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm Malcolm Brabant.