A view of the destroyed Shujaiya neighborhood on the outskirts of Gaza Metropolis, from an Israeli navy outpost in northern Gaza, on Wednesday.
Daniel Estrin/NPR
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Daniel Estrin/NPR
NORTHERN GAZA STRIP — It’s totally quiet in a spot as soon as often called some of the densely populated on this planet.
The Israeli navy took me and a small group of different worldwide journalists inside Gaza on Wednesday, almost one month into the ceasefire.
It was the primary time I had entered Gaza after two years of struggle.
We stood on the fringe of an Israeli navy outpost, searching at what was once the bustling Shujaiya neighborhood exterior Gaza Metropolis.
It was the scene of fierce combating throughout the struggle. Now it’s a wasteland of destruction.
The tall high-rise buildings not demolished in Gaza Metropolis are seen within the far distance. Round them is an unlimited monochrome expanse so far as the attention can see.
Piles of concrete that was once properties. Skeletons of colleges. Concrete beams standing within the dust like tall tombstones.
For years earlier than the struggle, I might enter Gaza each few months, to report for NPR. I bear in mind driving via the Shujaiyeh neighborhood on my method to the middle of Gaza Metropolis.
Now it’s unrecognizable.
The ruins of Shujaiya in northern Gaza, the scene of fierce combating throughout the struggle and big destruction in Israeli strikes.
Daniel Estrin/NPR
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Daniel Estrin/NPR
Gaza is now divided in two
We had been dropped at an Israeli navy outpost near the “yellow line,” the place Israeli forces withdrew to as a part of the ceasefire deal that divides Gaza in half between areas managed by Israel and Hamas.
Palestinians aren’t allowed to return to stay within the half of Gaza the place Israeli troops are stationed. They’re residing on the opposite aspect of Gaza below Hamas management.
The navy confirmed us a map of Hamas tunnel routes Israeli forces are nonetheless discovering and demolishing within the space.
Israel has allowed Hamas and the Worldwide Committee of the Pink Cross to entry this space to uncover the our bodies of hostages taken within the Hamas-led assault on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
Israel’s navy is dug in for the long run
There’s a plan for the subsequent section of the ceasefire: A multinational peacekeeping drive is meant to deploy in Gaza, and Hamas is meant to disarm. Solely then, Israel says, will it withdraw from Gaza.
Questions stay: Will these subsequent steps proceed as deliberate? If not, is the choice a return to struggle? Is that this short-term division of Gaza the brand new established order?
Israeli safety forces drive previous the ruins of buildings destroyed throughout Israeli floor and air operations within the Shujaiya neighborhood exterior Gaza Metropolis, throughout a tour organized by the Israeli military for journalists on Wednesday.
Ohad Zwigenberg/AP
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Ohad Zwigenberg/AP
Israel’s navy says it’s constructing the infrastructure to organize its troops to occupy this half of Gaza for the foreseeable future. This Israeli navy outpost has a tall cellphone tower, electrical energy poles and cement partitions.
On the opposite aspect of the yellow line, Hamas is digging in, too — regrouping after the struggle and consolidating management of its a part of Gaza.
A tightly managed go to
Israel solely permits choose journalists into Gaza for temporary visits escorted by troopers. We had been restricted in who we may interview or movie among the many troopers. We didn’t see Palestinians.
As a situation of the go to, Israel’s navy censor reviewed NPR’s uncooked audio and video. It prohibited NPR from publishing an Israeli navy map of Gaza, however didn’t prohibit the publication of some other materials.
Even now that there is a ceasefire, Israel doesn’t permit journalists to enter Gaza independently. The Overseas Press Affiliation in Israel and the Palestinian territories, of which NPR is a member, has challenged the federal government at Israel’s Supreme Courtroom to let journalists into the territory. The federal government has a Nov. 23 deadline to inform the courtroom its place on unbiased entry for journalists to Gaza.
