Inside a network of tunnels in Gaza, Israeli troops say they have found a Hamas cell used to hold hostages
The road into Gaza is a boggy quagmire. We drove for over an hour, in heavily armoured Israeli military vehicles, through deserted and destroyed neighbourhoods in the south of the strip.
There are no windows to see out of, but from the video feed on the small screens inside the cab I didn’t spot a single sign of civilian life and not a building untouched by months of war.
Khan Younis has witnessed the heaviest fighting in recent weeks – we were the first journalists to get access into the centre of the city since the war began.
The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) says it has control, but during our time there, gunfire was pretty constant and drones flew low overhead. The battle didn’t seem to be over.
We had been brought by the IDF to see a tunnel network running under the city.
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There were no signs of civilian life in a video feed showing the surrounding area
Deep under Khan Younis, 25 metres down, the narrow tunnels are oppressively hot and narrow, but at times open up into more spacious living quarters with bathrooms, kitchens and sleep areas.
And then something more sinister – a cell with metal bars and door which the IDF says was used to hold hostages.
They claim to have DNA proof three of the released hostages were in here.
A cell which the IDF says was used by Hamas to hold hostages
“If anybody in the world needs evidence for the horrific actions that the terror entity Hamas has done, you’re in it,” says General Dan Goldfuss, commanding officer of the 98th Paratrooper Division that captured the city.
Above ground, fierce gun battles were going on nearby.
Drones flew low overhead and there was the occasional boom of explosions.
There appeared to be no buildings untouched by the months of war
In the dense heart of the city, it was hard to orientate and know how close the fighting was, but the soldiers with us took up positions, their guns pointed down the streets around us.
After four months of fighting, the Israeli military has not yet found many of the tunnels and they have not yet eliminated Hamas.
Sky’s Alistair Bunkall speaks to General Dan Goldfuss from the IDF
‘War is not a pretty sight – my people were killed’
“The Palestinian people here have paid, and are paying, an almighty price for this,” I put it to General Goldfuss.
“They are,” he agreed. “But so am I. I think they should turn their rage towards Hamas.”
But they have nothing to come back to and will turn their rage towards you, I suggested.
“Maybe, maybe they will. But at the end of the day, it’s war up top and it’s war down here,” he replies. “War is not a pretty sight. My people were killed on 7 October 2023, they were slaughtered and burnt. What would Britain do if a terror entity entered Britain?”
Israel promised this would be a war like nothing before. Its forces and politicians vowed to defeat Hamas and bring the hostages home.
The country’s defence minister, Yoav Gallant, has said a ground operation will soon begin in Rafah in the far south – the one remaining urban centre that IDF troops have not yet entered.
It is also where more than a million people have fled to, and one of the last remaining ‘safe zones’, although it comes under regular attack from airstrikes.
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Warnings of ‘catastrophe’ if IDF pushes south
Egypt, worried that there will be an exodus of refugees over the border, has expressed grave concerns about the IDF entering Rafah.
Humanitarian organisations have warned of a catastrophe.
More than 27,000 Palestinians have already been killed since the start of the conflict, at least 16,000 of them estimated to be civilians, according to the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza.
Still, Israel continues to fight. More than 1,200 people were killed by Hamas in the attacks on 7 October. Hundreds more were taken hostage.
But with Hamas still fighting too, Israel cannot yet claim victory, and time might be running out.
Palestinians hold up their green identity cards as they hope to be let through an Israeli checkpoint
The framework of a new hostage deal has been agreed upon by Israel and is awaiting Hamas’s approval.
If it goes ahead, there could be an extended pause in fighting which Western and Arab nations will want to turn into a permanent ceasefire.
Whenever the end does come, it’s hard to imagine what will be left of Gaza, because I saw what vengeance looks like – almost total destruction.
This is the highest stakes diplomacy via social media.
The American president just posted on his Truth Social platform: “We know exactly where the so-called ‘Supreme Leader’ is hiding.
“He is an easy target, but is safe there – We are not going to take him out (kill!), at least not for now. But we don’t want missiles shot at civilians, or American soldiers.
“Our patience is wearing thin. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”
Israel-Iran live: Trump says US knows where Iran’s supreme leader is ‘hiding’
It was followed minutes later by “UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER!”
In real-time, we are witnessing Donald Trump’s extreme version of maximum pressure diplomacy.
He’d probably call it the ‘art of the deal’, but bunker busters are the tool, and it comes with such huge consequences, intended and unintended, known and unknown.
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Nuclear sites targeted in Iran
There is intentional ambiguity in the president’s messaging. His assumption is that he can apply his ‘art of the deal’ strategy to a deeply ideological geopolitical challenge.
It’s all playing out publicly. Overnight, the New York Times, via two of its best-sourced reporters, had been told that Mr Trump is weighing whether to use B-2 aircraft to drop bunker-busting bombs on Iran’s underground nuclear facilities.
Meanwhile, Axios was reporting that a meeting is possible between Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff and Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araghchi.
The reporting came just as Mr Trump warned “everyone in Tehran to evacuate”. The nuclear sites being threatened with bunker busters are not in Tehran, but Trump’s words are designed to stoke tension, to confuse and to apply intense pressure.
His actions are too. He left the G7 in Canada early and asked his teams to gather in the White House Situation Room.
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Trump: ‘I want an end, not a ceasefire’
This is a game of smoke, mirrors, brinkmanship and – maybe – bluff. In Tehran, what’s left of the leadership is watching and reading closely as they consider what’s next.
Maybe the Supreme Leader and his regime’s days are numbered. Things remain very unpredictable.
Listen to The World with Richard Engel and Yalda Hakim every Wednesday
From history, though, regime change, even when it comes with a plan – and there is certainly not one here, spells civil war and from that comes a refugee crisis.
These are truly tense and chaotic times.
World
Ukraine war: 14 killed as Russian missile and drone attacks strike Kyiv – including American citizen
Russian missile and drone attacks have killed 14 people in Kyiv overnight, according to Ukrainian officials.
A 62-year-old US citizen who suffered shrapnel wounds is among the dead.
At least 99 others were wounded in strikes that hollowed out a residential building and destroyed dozens of apartments.
Pic: AP
Emergency workers were at the scene to rescue people from under the rubble.
Images show a firefighter was among those hurt, with injured residents evacuated from their homes.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy described the attack as “one of the most terrifying attacks on Kyiv” – and said Russian forces had fired 440 drones and 32 missiles as civilians slept in their homes.
“[Putin] wants the war to go on,” he said. “It is troubling when the powerful of this world turn a blind eye to it.”
Pic: AP
Ukraine’s interior minister, Ihor Klymenko, said 27 locations across the capital have been hit – including educational institutions and critical infrastructure.
He claimed the attack, in the early hours of Tuesday morning, was one of the largest on the capital since Russia’s full-scale invasion began in February 2022.
Drones swarmed over the city, with an air raid alert remaining in force for seven hours.
One person was killed and 17 others injured as a result of separate Russian drone strikes in the port city of Odesa.
Pic: Reuters
It comes as the G7 summit in Canada continues, which Ukraine’s leader is expected to attend.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy was due to hold talks with Donald Trump – but the president has announced he is unexpectedly returning to Washington because of tensions in the Middle East.
Ukraine’s foreign minister says Moscow’s decision to attack Kyiv during the summit is a signal of disrespect to the US.
Moscow has launched a record number of drones and missiles in recent weeks, and says the attacks are in retaliation for a Ukrainian operation that targeted warplanes in airbases deep within Russian territory.
Kyiv’s mayor Vitali Klitschko says fires broke out in two of the city’s districts as a result of debris from drones shot down by the nation’s air defences.
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Pic: AP
On X, Ukraine’s foreign ministry wrote: “Russia’s campaign of terror against civilians continues. Its war against Ukraine escalates with increased brutality.
“The only way to stop Russia is tighter pressure – through sanctions, more defence support for Ukraine, and limiting Russia’s ability to keep sowing war.”
Olena Lapyshnak, who lived in one of the destroyed buildings, said: “It’s horrible, it’s scary, in one moment there is no life. I can only curse the Russians, that’s all I can say. They shouldn’t exist in this world.”
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