Thick smoke billows from Israeli ground operation in Khan Younis (file photo)
Khan Younis, Gaza’s main southern city, is now the epicenter of the fighting, with tanks driving through the mud between bombed-out buildings and the sound of explosions and gunfire echoing in the distance.
Towers of rubble stand near the entrance to the Hamas tunnel, part of an underground labyrinth the military calls the “Gaza Metro” where militants are said to be hiding and holding hostages.
The bloodiest Gaza war in history is now entering its fourth month, with troops focusing their operations on Khan Younis, the hometown of Hamas Gaza leader Yahya Sinwar, who was allegedly responsible for the October 7 attack planner.
Israeli troops recently led a group of journalists through a long tunnel they say Hamas dug under the city, much of which is in ruins after weeks of bombing and fierce fighting.
While filming underground, reporters were told they were walking through a tunnel hundreds of meters long that led to the cemetery – a site AFP could not independently verify.
“We are in the middle of a cemetery in Khan Younis, which is a military compound – a Hamas military compound, both above and below ground,” said Dan Goldfuss, an Israeli commander who leads the group.
“Look at the time, money and effort that went into this tunnel,” Goldfuss said, patting the concrete wall of the tunnel that leads to a series of larger rooms.
One of the largest rooms is large enough to house a dozen soldiers, and the Israeli army says it served as a command center for Palestinian militant groups.
Inside there was a large kitchen with a sink filled with dirty dishes and empty cans of chopped vegetables.
The Israeli army says many of the hostages taken by Hamas on October 7 have been or continue to be held in a vast network of tunnels beneath Gaza.
Above ground, tanks and excavators roamed the deserted streets in search of more underground Hamas facilities, an AFP video journalist affiliated with the Hamas group reported.
Troops patrolled neighborhoods reduced to rubble, with no civilians in sight.
bumpy buildings
As one troop drove through, the road was lined with rows of pockmarked buildings, some with large holes in them, and was lined with roads muddy from recent heavy winter rains.
As the convoy passed by, the roads were lined with broken and charred vehicle remains and metal scraps. There were at least two tanks among the armored vehicles.
According to official AFP statistics, the conflict broke out after Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, killing about 1,140 people, mostly civilians.
In an effort to destroy Hamas, Israel launched a relentless bombing campaign against Gaza, with a ground invasion that began in northern Gaza and has since advanced steadily southward.
The offensive has so far killed at least 26,422 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-controlled territory.
The militants also held about 250 hostages, of which Israel said about 132 remained in Gaza, including the bodies of at least 28 dead prisoners.
The maze of tunnels beneath the coast were originally designed to circumvent the harsh blockade that Israel and Egypt have imposed on Gaza since 2007.
The network of tunnels has grown since the 2014 war with Israel, and Hamas often uses it to facilitate rocket launches.
A study published on October 17 by the Modern Warfare Institute at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point said there are 1,300 tunnels stretching more than 500 kilometers (310 miles).
Goldfuss said the tunnels had become a defining feature of the war.
“Every war has its own characteristics, and I think the basic characteristic of this war is the above-ground and underground exercises,” he said. “This is the characteristic of this war.”
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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