Several Western media outlets were able to get closer to the epicenter of the fighting in the Gaza Strip with Israeli soldiers and note the violence of the month-long military confrontation against Hamas.
The Israeli army claimed to have divided the Gaza Strip in two. Since entering the Palestinian enclave, Israeli soldiers have been pursuing militants from Hamas, the terrorist group responsible for the October 7 attacks against the Jewish state. The soldiers advance, supported by significant air power.
Western media journalists were able to follow IDF soldiers in the Gaza Strip, provided their images were validated by the Israeli army.
Broken windows, barely recognizable bedrooms, walls that miraculously still stand… in the north of the Palestinian enclave there is destruction and devastation everywhere.
“It’s not an operation, it’s a war”
“The fighting has been going on for many weeks. It’s not an operation, it’s a war. And they will continue until Hamas no longer exists,” an Israeli soldier told Portal. The same soldier explains that the people of Gaza have been “warned.”
“We warned all the people living here before our arrival that they had to be evacuated to the south of the Gaza Strip. So we know that all the people who are here are enemies,” he says.
The Israeli army said it had warned civilians in the north of the Palestinian territory to evacuate to the south. But due to IDF communications cuts and recurring airstrikes, many have failed to do so.
However, on Wednesday, nearly 50,000 Gazans fled from northern Gaza to the south through the “evacuation corridor” secured by Israeli troops for the second day in a row, according to an army spokesman.
“Gaza is becoming a cemetery for children”
According to Hamas, more than 10,000 people have been killed by Israel since this new war began. “Gaza is becoming a graveyard for children,” denounced UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday, reiterating his call for a ceasefire, which Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejects.
In the north of the Gaza Strip, soldiers carefully search apartments. Because they assure you: They regularly discover workshops for making weapons in the cellars… or tunnels.
“One of the first goals is to destroy the tunnels. Every building, every residence has its own tunnel to sabotage the work of the soldiers,” explains an Israeli fighter. According to the IDF, 31 of its soldiers have been killed since the ground offensive in Gaza began.
Théo Bassilana with Ariel Guez