KHAN YUNIS: Tanks churn by way of the mud between bombed-out buildings in Gaza’s principal southern metropolis of Khan Yunis, now the epicentre of the battle, as explosions and gunfire reverberate within the distance.
Piles of rubble tower close to the doorway to a Hamas tunnel, a part of the underground labyrinth the military dubs the “Gaza Metro” and the place it says militants are hiding out and holding hostages.
In the bloodiest ever Gaza battle, now in its fourth month, the military has concentrated its operations in Khan Yunis, the hometown of Hamas’s Gaza chief Yahya Sinwar, the alleged architect of the October 7 assault.
The Israeli military not too long ago led a gaggle of journalists by way of a protracted tunnel it mentioned had been dug by Hamas under town, a lot of which lies in ruins after weeks of bombing and heavy fight.
Taken under floor, reporters had been instructed they had been strolling by way of a tunnel tons of of metres lengthy main in direction of a cemetery — areas AFP was not capable of independently confirm.
“We are in the middle of a cemetery in Khan Yunis and this cemetery is a military compound — a Hamas military compound, over and underground,” mentioned Dan Goldfus, an Israeli commander main the group.
“Look at the time, the money and the effort that’s been put into this tunnel,” Goldfus mentioned as he patted a concrete wall of the tunnel resulting in a sequence of bigger rooms.
One of the most important chambers was massive sufficient to carry greater than a dozen troops, and the Israeli military mentioned it had served as a command centre for the Palestinian militant group.
Inside, there was a big kitchen with a sink stuffed with soiled dishes and empty cans of chopped greens.
The Israeli military says that many hostages taken by Hamas on October 7 have been or proceed to be held within the huge community of tunnels like these that spreads beneath Gaza.
Above floor, tanks and earth diggers roamed the abandoned streets trying to find extra underground Hamas services, an AFP video journalist who was a part of the group reported.
Troops patrolled neighbourhoods that had been diminished to rubble, with no civilians in sight.
Rows of pockmarked buildings, together with some with gaping holes in them, and destroyed homes lined a highway muddied by current heavy winter rain as a convoy of troops drove by way of.
Mangled and charred stays of autos and metallic scrap had been piled on each side of the highway because the convoy handed, with no less than two tanks among the many armoured autos.
The battle erupted after Hamas’s October 7 assault on Israel which resulted in about 1,140 deaths, largely civilians, in accordance with an AFP tally of official figures.
Aiming to destroy Hamas, Israel launched a relentless bombardment of Gaza and the bottom invasion that began in northern Gaza and has steadily moved south since.
So far, the offensive has killed no less than 26,422 folks in Gaza, most of them ladies and kids, in accordance with the well being ministry within the Hamas-run territory.
Militants additionally seized about 250 hostages and Israel says round 132 of them stay in Gaza, together with the our bodies of no less than 28 useless captives.
The labyrinth of tunnels beneath the coastal territory was initially devised as a means of circumventing the crushing Israeli-Egyptian blockade on Gaza, in place since 2007.
Since a 2014 battle with Israel, the tunnel community has been expanded and Hamas has made frequent use of it to facilitate its rocket launches.
A research printed on October 17 by the Modern War Institute on the US navy academy West Point mentioned there have been 1,300 tunnels stretching over 500 kilometres (310 miles).
Goldfus mentioned the tunnels had grow to be a defining characteristic of the battle.
“Every war has its own characteristics and I think that this war, its basic character is about that over and underground manoeuvre,” he mentioned. “That’s the character of this war.”