Photos from inside Gaza show destruction wrought by Israeli military efforts to root out Hamas
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — The few buildings still standing in this vast area of northern Gaza stick out of the ground like broken bones. Around them, a once-dense urban neighborhood has been blown away, destroyed, or otherwise reduced to debris and dust.
The Israeli military on Wednesday led an AP photographer and other journalists on a tour of a razed area on the eastern edge of Gaza City in an effort to destroy infrastructure that it said was a base for Hamas militants.
The destruction of Shijaiya, a sprawling neighborhood within sight of the kibbutz targeted in the war-triggering Hamas offensive on Oct. 7, 2023, is part of a larger campaign. Satellite images show that since January the army has been systematically razing neighborhoods in northern Gaza, Rafah, the southernmost Palestinian territory, and nearby Khan Younis.
“What we need to do in these areas is we want to make sure that this is a terror-free zone and that Hamas does not return to this area,” military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Nadav Shoshani told reporters during the visit.
“You can’t rebuild an area that has terrorist infrastructure, you can’t rebuild the area if there’s a tunnel 100 meters below the house or under rubble,” he said.
Shoshani said militants have been working to install new weapons in the area even recently. During a two-hour visit to the site on Wednesday, there was no sign of anyone except Israeli soldiers wearing T-shirts with a slogan describing their mission.
“Hamas Hunting Club” was written on a graphic of military boots pressing against the skeleton of a militant. “Happy Hunting.”
This is a photo gallery curated by AP photo editors.
