Journalists were taken to the northern Gaza Strip for four hours on Saturday to see the extent of the Israeli military’s advance. Photo credit: Ronen Bergman/The New York Times
The wall of a school was reduced to rubble. The minaret of a mosque leaned to one side. The roof of a beachfront villa was gone and a maroon sofa was left exposed to the elements.
Along the northern coast of Gaza on Saturday afternoon, these were the signs of the struggle between Hamas, the Palestinian militia that controls the Gaza Strip, and the Israeli army, which had been trying for eight days to oust Hamas from power.
Israeli military leaders brought a small group of foreign journalists to northern Gaza for four hours on Saturday to monitor the extent of the advance. Among them was a reporter from the New York Times.
Thousands of soldiers began their advance along the coast on October 27th. They are part of a three-pronged invasion force aimed at defeating Hamas, which led a brazen attack on Israel last month that killed about 1,400 people.
Eight days later, the Israeli army has advanced several miles south, reached the outskirts of Gaza City, Hamas’ stronghold, and gained control of the northern section of Gaza’s coastal road.
View along the north coast of Gaza.Credit: Ronen Bergman/The New York Times
Less than a month ago, Gaza’s north coast was a quiet coastline dotted with beach resorts and hotels here and there. On Saturday it was a huge Israeli military camp.
Long lines of infantry marched south along the road, blowing clouds of dust into the air. In the sand dunes east of the road, long lines of tanks and armored vehicles dominated the landscape and stretched to the horizon.
Many buildings were destroyed, their walls riddled with bullet holes. According to the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip Health Authority, some were most likely hit during an Israeli aerial bombardment that killed more than 9,000 people in the Gaza Strip.
Palestinian residents had fled south, leaving the coast to Israeli soldiers and a few stray dogs and cats.
An Israeli officer accompanying the journalists, Lt. Col. Iddo Ben-Anat, conveyed a picture of quiet confidence.
Hamas had been driven here, the colonel said, and driven from its bases in the mosque with the tilting minaret and the school with the shattered wall.
“It’s like catching a mouse,” Colonel Ben-Anat said of the enemy. “You have to find him. You know he’s there. You don’t know where he is – but when you catch him, you know he’s done for.”
Nearby, groups of soldiers gathered around portable camp stoves, cooking sweet corn and carrots, chatting and joking. Several wore well-groomed mustaches — an incongruous nod to Movember, an annual global fundraising event in which men grow mustaches throughout November.
All the political divisions in Israel over the past year – in which thousands of military reservists threatened to refuse to serve in protest against the Israeli government – have disappeared, the colonel said. Many of his men were reservists.
“Together,” said Colonel Ben-Anat.
But these expressions of bravery were drowned out by the sounds of an unfinished and indecisive war.
The Israeli military is moving closer to Gaza City, where even bloodier fighting is sure to await as Hamas militants are believed to have holed up in a network of underground tunnels.Credit: Ronen Bergman/The New York Times
While some soldiers cooked and rested, others kept their weapons drawn and scanned the horizon for attackers. At any moment, the colonel said, Hamas fighters could emerge from hidden shafts leading to a vast underground network of tunnels stretching hundreds of kilometers and ambush Israeli troops.
Shots rang out constantly and ammunition regularly flew over us.
Shortly after the journalists entered the Gaza Strip through a hole in the surrounding wall, a mortar shell landed near the armored vehicle carrying them south.
A few minutes later, a roadside bomb exploded as the vehicle passed, creating a brief fireball and sending sand into the sky.
Another barrage of mortar shells struck near the journalists after they approached the front line.
To get to the front, the journalists traveled in a convoy of five tanks and two armored vehicles. A Times reporter traveled in an armored vehicle named Eitan. It had no windows: To see his surroundings, the driver looked at a digital screen that showed live video of the road ahead.
Palestinian journalists had no such protection; According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, dozens have been killed in air strikes since the war began.
To truly drive out Hamas, Israel must take over the entire Gaza Strip, the colonel said.
Bloodier fighting awaits Israelis in Gaza City, where Hamas fighters are holed up in their underground fortifications and are likely planning many more ambushes.
Analysts say such fighting could lead to catastrophic civilian casualties – an outcome Israel says it is trying to avoid.
“We are doing our best to only destroy Hamas without harming the civilian population,” Colonel Ben-Anat said. “We think ten times before we do anything.”
But for civilians in Gaza City, who witnessed one of the most violent bombings of the 21st century, the Israeli army’s actions are frightening.
Saher Abu Adgham, 37, a Palestinian graphic designer, had been searching the streets of Gaza City for firewood to cook rice. As dusk approached, he lay down at home in case the army advanced at nightfall.
“I’m afraid of going out one night and meeting a tank,” Mr. Abu Adgham said in a telephone interview.
With cell phone networks often out of service, other Gaza City residents tried to gauge the Israeli advance by listening to the sound of gunfire.
“We don’t have internet to listen to the news and know what’s happening – but we can hear it,” said Majdi Ahmed, 32, a taxi driver taking shelter at a hospital in the city.
“Now I can hear the shooting,” Mr. Ahmed said in a voice message. “Seems like they’re fighting now.”
Iyad Abuheweila reported from Cairo, Abu Bakr Bashir from London and Patrick Kingsley from Jerusalem.
— Ronen Bergman reports from the northern Gaza Strip