NPR reporter revisits Gaza for first time since warfare : NPR

A view of the destroyed Shujaiya neighborhood on the outskirts of Gaza City, from an Israeli army outpost in northern Gaza, on Wednesday.

Daniel Estrin/NPR

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Daniel Estrin/NPR

NORTHERN GAZA STRIP — It is completely quiet in a spot as soon as often known as one of the densely populated on the planet.

The Israeli army took me and a small group of different worldwide journalists inside Gaza on Wednesday, practically one month into the ceasefire.

It was the primary time I had entered Gaza after two years of warfare.

We stood on the fringe of an Israeli army outpost, looking at what was once the bustling Shujaiya neighborhood outdoors Gaza City.

It was the scene of fierce combating in the course of the warfare. Now it’s a wasteland of destruction.

The tall high-rise buildings not demolished in Gaza City are seen within the far distance. Around them is an enormous monochrome expanse so far as the attention can see.

Piles of concrete that was once houses. Skeletons of colleges. Concrete beams standing within the filth like tall tombstones.

For years earlier than the warfare, I might enter Gaza each few months, to report for NPR. I bear in mind driving by the Shujaiyeh neighborhood on my approach to the middle of Gaza City.

Now it’s unrecognizable.

The ruins of Shujaiya in northern Gaza, the scene of fierce combating in the course of the warfare 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 delivered to an Israeli army 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 dwell within the half of Gaza the place Israeli troops are stationed. They reside on the opposite aspect of Gaza underneath Hamas management.

The army confirmed us a map of Hamas tunnel routes Israeli forces are nonetheless discovering and demolishing within the space.

Israel has allowed Hamas and the International Committee of the Red 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 army is dug in for the long run

There is a plan for the subsequent part of the ceasefire: A multinational peacekeeping pressure is meant to deploy in Gaza, and Hamas is meant to disarm. Only 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 warfare? Is this short-term division of Gaza the brand new establishment?

Israeli safety forces drive previous the ruins of buildings destroyed throughout Israeli floor and air operations within the Shujaiya neighborhood outdoors Gaza City, throughout a tour organized by the Israeli military for journalists on Wednesday.

Ohad Zwigenberg/AP

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Ohad Zwigenberg/AP

Israel’s army says it’s constructing the infrastructure to arrange its troops to occupy this half of Gaza for the foreseeable future. This Israeli army 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 warfare and consolidating management of its a part of Gaza.

A tightly managed go to

Israel solely permits choose journalists into Gaza for transient visits escorted by troopers. We had been restricted in who we might interview or movie among the many troopers. We didn’t see Palestinians.

As a situation of the go to, Israel’s army censor reviewed NPR’s uncooked audio and video. It prohibited NPR from publishing an Israeli army 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 Foreign Press Association in Israel and the Palestinian territories, of which NPR is a member, has challenged the federal government at Israel’s Supreme Court to let journalists into the territory. The authorities has a Nov. 23 deadline to inform the courtroom its place on unbiased entry for journalists to Gaza.