Rafah is now a wasteland.
The city in Gaza has been totally flattened by months of war.
The rubble in places is many metres high, the buildings that are still standing are hollow shells, their dark, empty windows like vacant souls in a horror show.
The IDF allowed a Sky News team into the flattened city
One IDF soldier privately told Sky News that they understood it looked bad, but claimed they had no choice
Were it not for the constant whine of drones overhead, the streets would be silent.
The silence is occasionally broken by gunfire as remaining Hamas fighters step out of the ruins to fight a battle they’re losing.
Honestly, sometimes it is just hard to find the words to describe what you’re seeing.
I stood in what was a side street, surrounded by the remains of houses with clothes still hanging in wardrobes, children’s toys on the floor, a large cuddly bear hanging from a first-floor bedroom, and a pink tricycle vivid among the grey dust and debris.
Fifty metres away was a large roundabout, the recognisable contours of a school building still stood on the far side of the street.
Two Israeli tanks were parked there, watching, guarding, ready for the slightest movement.
It was on these streets and in these buildings where Hamas built up its arsenal, dug its tunnels and planned its attacks. And they’re still there.
Clothes still hung in a wardrobe from where families seemingly left in a hurry
A lone child’s tricycle was visible in the remains of one home
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International journalists cannot independently enter Gaza without an Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) escort.
So it’s impossible to know whether this level of destruction was necessary or needless vengeance, punishment for a population considered collectively guilty for the worst massacre in Israel’s history.
I’d been into Gaza before the war and as I stood still, taking it all in, my memories started to bring the streets back to life.
I could see the bustle of the markets and restaurants, I could hear the constant traffic and the noise of children, so many children – half of Gaza’s population is under the age of 18.
“I know how bad this looks,” one soldier privately told me, “but we had no choice: Hamas had months to prepare for the Rafah fight, they set booby traps in houses and fought hard.”
A few metres away was the tunnel where six murdered Israeli hostages were found two weeks ago.
The six Israeli hostages murdered two weeks ago were found in this tunnel
Sky News’ Alistair Bunkall amid the destruction in Gaza
The entry shaft was under a child’s bedroom painted with Disney figures, quite possibly directly beneath the bed itself.
I was able to picture that room as I stood quietly taking it in, and I could imagine the joy of a child going to sleep watched over by Mickey Mouse and Cinderella.
I wonder where that child is now?
The entry shaft to part of Hamas’s tunnel network was found under a child’s bedroom, the IDF says
And how do you judge that stolen innocence with the tragedy that happened beneath it? Six people, also innocent, executed with bullets in the back of their heads.
Rafah is a city of ghosts.
We had driven into Gaza along the Philadelphi corridor, the nine-mile passage that runs along the Egyptian border fence and which has been the latest and heavily debated sticking point to a ceasefire deal.
Much of it is newly tarmacked by the Israelis, creating a highway that runs east to west.
They now have full control of it, and they now surround Gaza on all four sides.
The newly tarmacked Philadelphi corridor
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insists on keeping an IDF presence there to prevent Hamas smuggling weapons back in.
He also fears Hamas could try to smuggle hostages out of Gaza and, he claims, into Yemen or Iran, something that Israeli security officials say is not backed up by intelligence.
The Israeli military has uncovered nine tunnels running into Egypt. They were already blocked off by Hamas and the Egyptians before the Israelis got there.
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We were shown one, big enough to drive vehicles through. Machines nearby are drilling deep into the ground in search of more tunnels. The IDF isn’t certain they will find any.
There is still hopeful talk of a ceasefire, but frankly, it doesn’t feel likely.
The IDF believes it has created the conditions for one, but the decision is up to the politicians.
Up to the leaders, Hamas’s Yahya Sinwar and Mr Netanyahu. Each blames the other for the failure to reach an agreement.
In the meantime, the war in Gaza is changing – the fighting continues and airstrikes are still killing people on a daily basis, but it’s moving towards a grinding counter-insurgency and if that’s what the Israeli government wants, then it could be like this for years.
Sky News was granted permission by the Israeli military to enter Gaza – though our team’s movements were restricted and the material we gathered had to be authorised by the IDF
