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In another building, the walls were blasted out of several apartments. Large mounds of dirt surrounded the area, apparently from Israeli bulldozers searching for buried explosives. A tank was parked outside an empty school, where an Israeli flag was hung from the exterior walls. The sound of what appeared to be a drone buzzed overhead, and gunfire could be heard in the distance.
The military says Hamas is operating from inside the tunnels, and military officials have made the destruction of the tunnel system a top goal.
The tunnel was located near destroyed homes and streets in a city that’s become the focus of Israel’s ground offensive. Credit: AP
Brigadier General Dan Goldfus, commander of the military’s 98th Division, described the tunnels as posing “a 720-degree threat”.
“It’s not 360, but it’s 720, underground and over ground,” Goldfus said.
Israel also believes that Hamas leader Yehya Sinwar is hiding in a tunnel somewhere in Khan Younis.
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The beleaguered city, Gaza’s second-largest, has become the focus of Israel’s war on Hamas in recent weeks. During the tour for journalists, no residents appeared to be in the area. Israel has ordered residents to evacuate portions of the city as it proceeds with the offensive.
In its fierce October 7 attack, Hamas and other militants killed 1200 people and took hostage roughly 250, according to Israeli authorities.
The attack sparked the Israeli offensive. More than 23,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children have been killed, according to the Health Ministry in Hamas-ruled Gaza. More than 85 per cent of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million has been displaced, and vast swaths of the territory have been levelled.
About 110 hostages have been released. Some 110 remain with their captors, along with the bodies of about 20 people killed in captivity, according to Israel. Several other bodies of captives were retrieved by Israeli forces, and three hostages were killed mistakenly by the military.
The plight of the hostages has gripped Israelis, who see them as an enduring symbol of the state’s failure to protect its citizens on October 7.
Israel has made freeing the hostages part of its war aims, along with crushing Hamas’ military and governing capabilities.
AP