Gaza City, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israeli army vehicles pass through empty streets in a smashed neighbourhood in Gaza City, with the help of video cameras, where soldiers find people standing inside a nearby building. The armored personal carrier spins and moves the engine.
A little more along the line, the vehicle will stop near an empty hospital previously overseen by the Jordanian government. A senior official speaking on condition of anonymity in accordance with military regulations says the soldiers recently found a tunnel used by Hamas, adjacent to the hospital.
On Friday, Israeli forces escorted international journalists through Gaza City. It was the focus of a new attack to eradicate Hamas, providing a glimpse of the territory that had been ravaged by nearly two years of war, killing tens of thousands of Palestinians.
In August, international experts said the city was hungering and warned that the displacement of Israel’s aggressive and massive populations would exacerbate the humanitarian crisis.
Soldiers escorting journalists through Gaza city portraying military operations as intentional, still justified, violently weakened but delved into conducting attacks and eliminating extremist groups still owned by 48 hostages.
Israel has banned international journalists from entering Gaza for two years, except for rare and short visits overseen by such armies.
The city under siege
Drives to and from Gaza City take place through corridors in northern, southern and southern Gaza and are used as military zones. The route was littered with destroyed buildings and concrete mounds. There were few signs of life during the tour, but it lasted for several hours.
Once they reached the Sabara district of Gaza, the army took the journalists to an observation deck hundreds of meters away from the Jordanian Hospital where they had escaped. The Army said Hamas was making weapons in the room under the hospital, but the Jordanians were on the ground while they managed the medical facilities.
Surrounded by destruction and collapsed buildings, the hospital was closed about two weeks ago. What appeared to be a tube that stretched from one of the buildings to the dirt mounds before it was soldiers said it was located in the tunnel. A few hundred feet away, the excavator moved the pile of sand as the sounds of fire and artillery echoed into the background.
According to the World Health Organization, out of Gaza’s 36 hospitals, 22 are no longer operational, with the remaining 14 being partially functional.
Israel accused Hamas of using medical facilities as command centres, using them for military purposes and harming civilians, but it has provided little evidence. Hamas security guards are seen in hospitals, leaving some areas inaccessible.
The soldiers showed a video of a journalist, filmed from a drone flying through a long 1.5km (1 mile) tunnel. The video showed a small tunnel leading to the room. The room showed explosives lined up on the walls.
A Jordanian official, speaking on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter, denied that the hospital was being used by Hamas. The AP could not independently verify the Israeli Army’s claims.
Soldiers from the 36th Division, hundreds of meters from the Jordanian Hospital, were placed in a house that was previously used by Hamas. Glass and concrete fragments covered the floor, hung from the ceiling, with handwritten Hebrew instructions on the walls.
Soldiers warned journalists not to get too close to the window for snipers. A day ago, a soldier said the building beside the house had been hit by a sniper fire.
The fate of Gaza city
On the eve of the war, Gaza city was home to about a million people. Throughout the conflict, it was the focus of regular Israeli artillery bombardment and ground operations. Some areas have been almost completely destroyed. Hundreds of thousands of people fled under Israeli evacuation orders at the start of the war, but more people returned during the ceasefire earlier this year.
Before the latest campaign in Gaza City began last month, Israel warned the Palestinians to evacuate the South. Earlier this week, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said people have one last chance to go, and those left behind will be considered Hamas supporters.
However, senior Army officials leading journalists through Gaza City on Friday were more measured.
“Every day we try to explain how safe it is to go south,” the official said. “And as we approach a more populated area, we will stop and try to get out of the area by other means.”
Hundreds of thousands have left, but many remain, some cannot afford to exercise, while others may be too weak to leave or they may not want to evacuate again.
Trump proposed deal to end the war
On October 7, 2023, Hamas attacked Israel, killing around 1,200 people and acquiring 251 people, and then Israel launched a retaliatory attack that killed more than 67,000 Palestinians. That number does not say how many civilians or combatants were, according to Gaza’s Ministry of Health. It says women and children account for about half of the deaths.
The ministry is part of Hamas-run government, and the United Nations and many independent experts consider the figures to be the most reliable estimates of wartime casualties.
Israeli forces said on Saturday that they will prepare for the first phase of President Donald Trump’s plan, which will end the war and return all remaining hostages after Hamas said they need to accept some of the deal and negotiate others.
Officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity say the Army will move to a defensive rather than an offensive position.
Still, it is unclear how this will affect people in Gaza. On Saturday, the Army warned the Palestinians in other parts of Gaza to return there, calling it a dangerous combat zone.
___
Omar Akoh of Amman, Amman, Cairo, Egypt, and Sammy Magdi of Cairo, Egypt contributed.
