Some buildings are flattened or partially collapsed. Others are riddled with bullets or marked by smoke. There are no civilians anywhere.
This is the scene that CNN found on the outskirts of Al-Bureij, in central Gaza, after three months of war.
CNN met with the Israeli military on Monday, gaining a glimpse of the destruction inside Gaza and a rare look inside the alleged Hamas underground and weapons manufacturing infrastructure uncovered by Israeli forces.
Next to now-razed farmland and inside a nondescript building, the Israeli military took journalists inside the opening of what it said was a tunnel system leading to a weapons manufacturing facility both above and below ground. land.
“We are standing at one of the main entrances to the terrorist manufacturing center,” said an officer identified only as Major Ariel of the 188th Brigade, who discovered the tunnel entrance.
Under a nearby shed, the Israeli army showed another shaft leading to the same tunnel.
The Israeli military also showed reporters aboveground manufacturing facilities, where CNN saw mortar shells that Israeli commanders said were being manufactured there. Another tunnel shaft was located in the corner of the factory, and led to what the Israeli military said was an underground facility where explosive material, in some cases made from dual-use materials such as fertilizers, was packaged into projectiles.
The Israeli military did not allow journalists underground, saying the chemicals made it too dangerous, but provided video it said was filmed inside that underground facility in which large vats and industrial material could be seen.
“What we are seeing is using incorporated civilian industries to build a rocket industry,” IDF spokesman Daniel Hagari told CNN inside the weapons facility, a point he raised repeatedly throughout the day.
Asked if he was emphasizing the connection between Hamas infrastructure and civilian buildings to justify the high number of civilian deaths in Gaza, Hagari said: “We are focusing on Hamas, no, no; “We are focusing on a war against Hamas, we are not fighting the people of Gaza.”
“Every death of every child is a tragedy. “We didn’t want this war,” Hagari said.
Lower intensity phase: Israel expanded its ground offensive into central Gaza in late December and over the past two weeks has carried out strikes and pushed its ground forces into areas where it had previously urged civilians to evacuate.
But there are signs that it is slowing its offensive in parts of Gaza, moving to a lower intensity phase of the war after significant US pressure.
“There is a big change because it is a different level of intensity. Now, it is not with the same intensity, high intensity that we work with in the north (of Gaza),” Hagari said. “It is a more continuous effort in the center of gravity so that we can make sure that the population is distinguished from the terrorists. and focus on Hamas frameworks,” he added.
