NORTHERN GAZA — In the wreckage of what was once a Palestinian beach resort, a team of Israeli combat engineers were facing a fundamental question about this war: When can an area be considered clear of Hamas?
Israeli forces seized this strip of Gaza’s Mediterranean coastline days ago. Since then, columns of Israeli troops have rolled through on their way south toward Gaza City.
And yet on Saturday, the Israel Defense Forces said three Hamas fighters burst out of a tunnel hidden beneath the soldiers’ feet to launch an ambush with assault rifles and rocket-propelled grenades. No Israeli troops were killed, the IDF said, but the tunnel represented a threat deep behind the front line.
“So now we’re going to blow it up,” said an Israeli officer. Moments later, a heavy explosive sent a plume of deep-red sand skyward. One tunnel down, many more to go.
NBC News was given rare access to northern Gaza on Sunday, following the combat engineers on their mission to find and destroy Hamas’ vast tunnel network. Hamas leaders have boasted that the labyrinth of tunnels is hundreds of miles long and full of traps. Israel’s military says it represents a major threat to its ground forces as they advance deeper into the Strip.
We joined a line of Israeli vehicles heading through a gap in the Gaza border fence, the same fence that hundreds of Hamas terrorists burst through on Oct. 7 on their way to attack military outposts and massacre civilians in border communities.
NBC News was able to accompany the Israel Defense Forces into Gaza under conditions that prevent us from using images of lower-rank military personnel. NBC News did not allow the IDF to view any finished stories.
