A rare and limited glimpse into Gaza City

An Israeli army vehicle rumbles through the empty streets of a shattered neighborhood in Gaza City and, with help from a video camera, a soldier spots people standing inside a blasted-out building.

- BY SAM MEDNICK

The armored personnel carrier revs its engine and moves on.

A little farther along, the vehicle stops near an empty hospital formerly overseen by the Jordanian government. A senior official speaking on condition of anonymity in line with military rules says soldiers recently found a tunnel used by Hamas adjacent to the hospital.

On Friday, the Israeli military escorted international journalists through Gaza City, the focus of a new offensive to root out Hamas, offering a rare — and limited - glimpse into the territory devastated by nearly two years of war and where tens of thousands of Palestinians have been killed.

In August, international experts said the city was in a famine and warned that Israel's offensive and mass displacement of people would exacerbate the humanitarian crisis.

The soldiers escorting the journalists through Gaza City portrayed their military operations as deliberate, to minimize harm to civilians - yet justified, to eliminate a militant group that has been severely weakened but remains dug in, capable of carrying out attacks and still in possession of 48 hostages.

Israel has for two years banned international journalists from entering the Gaza Strip except for rare, brief visits supervised by the military, such as this one.

A city under siege

The drive into and out of Gaza City was through the Netzarim corridor, which separates northern and southern Gaza and is used as a military zone. The route was littered with destroyed buildings and mounds of concrete. Few signs of life were seen during the tour, which lasted several hours.