The street into Gaza is a boggy quagmire. We drove for over an hour, in closely armoured Israeli army autos, by way of abandoned and destroyed neighbourhoods within the south of the strip.
There are not any home windows to see out of, however from the video feed on the small screens contained in the cab I did not spot a single signal of civilian life and never a constructing untouched by months of battle.
Khan Younis has witnessed the heaviest combating in latest weeks – we had been the primary journalists to get entry into the centre of the town because the battle started.
The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) says it has management, however throughout our time there, gunfire was fairly fixed and drones flew low overhead. The battle did not appear to be over.
We had been introduced by the IDF to see a tunnel community operating beneath the town.
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Deep beneath Khan Younis, 25 metres down, the slender tunnels are oppressively sizzling and slender, however at instances open up into extra spacious dwelling quarters with loos, kitchens and sleep areas.
And then one thing extra sinister – a cell with steel bars and door which the IDF says was used to maintain hostages.
They declare to have DNA proof three of the launched hostages had been in right here.
“If anybody in the world needs evidence for the horrific actions that the terror entity Hamas has done, you’re in it,” says General Dan Goldfuss, commanding officer of the 98th Paratrooper Division that captured the town.
Above floor, fierce gun battles had been occurring close by.
Drones flew low overhead and there was the occasional growth of explosions.
In the dense coronary heart of the town, it was exhausting to orientate and understand how shut the combating was, however the troopers with us took up positions, their weapons pointed down the streets round us.
After 4 months of combating, the Israeli army has not but discovered most of the tunnels they usually haven’t but eradicated Hamas.
‘War shouldn’t be a reasonably sight – my individuals had been killed’
“The Palestinian people here have paid, and are paying, an almighty price for this,” I put it to General Goldfuss.
“They are,” he agreed. “But so am I. I think they should turn their rage towards Hamas.”
But they don’t have anything to return again to and can flip their rage in the direction of you, I recommended.
“Maybe, maybe they will. But at the end of the day, it’s war up top and it’s war down here,” he replies. “War is not a pretty sight. My people were killed on 7 October 2023, they were slaughtered and burnt. What would Britain do if a terror entity entered Britain?”
Israel promised this might be a battle like nothing earlier than. Its forces and politicians vowed to defeat Hamas and convey the hostages house.
The nation’s defence minister, Yoav Gallant, has stated a floor operation will quickly start in Rafah within the far south – the one remaining city centre that IDF troops haven’t but entered.
It can also be the place greater than 1,000,000 individuals have fled to, and one of many final remaining ‘protected zones’, though it comes beneath common assault from airstrikes.
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Egypt, nervous that there will likely be an exodus of refugees over the border, has expressed grave issues concerning the IDF coming into Rafah.
Humanitarian organisations have warned of a disaster.
More than 27,000 Palestinians have already been killed because the begin of the battle, a minimum of 16,000 of them estimated to be civilians, in keeping with the Hamas-run well being ministry in Gaza.
Still, Israel continues to struggle. More than 1,200 individuals had been killed by Hamas within the assaults on 7 October. Hundreds extra had been taken hostage.
But with Hamas nonetheless combating too, Israel can not but declare victory, and time could be operating out.
The framework of a brand new hostage deal has been agreed upon by Israel and is awaiting Hamas’s approval.
If it goes forward, there could possibly be an prolonged pause in combating which Western and Arab nations will wish to flip right into a everlasting ceasefire.
Whenever the tip does come, it is exhausting to think about what will likely be left of Gaza, as a result of I noticed what vengeance seems like – nearly whole destruction.
Source: information.sky.com”