‘Like a terrible dream’: tense wait for Israeli soldiers near Gaza border

More than 350,000 reservists have joined the forces massed in southern Israel and awaiting orders

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The double line of Israeli tanks stretched to the horizon. About 100 were visible, low-slung hulks quickly taking on the colour of the pervasive desert dust.

This was just a small part of Israel's coiled military might ranged along the borders of Gaza, waiting for the order to move. Israel has about 2,200 tanks, a massive force, 10 times the British army's tank fleet, and many of them are here, fuelled up and pointing west.