GAZA CITY, Gaza — Underneath the Shujaiya neighborhood in Gaza City, mattresses once used by Hamas fighters remain on the floor of a dormitory built in a tunnel by the militant group.
Nearby is a fully tiled bathroom with a toilet and sink that once had running water. Women’s underwear still hang on one of the walls next to the multiple cables used to power the lights and other electronic items. The Israeli military says this was one of a honeycomb of tunnels underneath the enclave, all of which will need to be destroyed before reconstruction can begin.
NBC News accompanied the Israel Defense Forces into Gaza on Monday, under conditions that prevented the use of images of most military personnel for what the IDF says are operational security reasons. Requests for independent access to Gaza from NBC News and other media organizations have been refused by the IDF.
Crossing into the enclave, the perfectly paved streets and green farmland in Israel’s border region disappear, replaced by destruction and dirt roads as you enter northern Gaza and the largely destroyed Shujaiya neighborhood, where the tunnel we entered was located. Fairly close by, what sounded like gunshots could be heard at one point.
Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani, a spokesperson for the IDF, said that it looked like some of the Hamas fighters brought their family members to hide out in the tunnel, a privilege they did not offer to the general population of Gaza as they came under attack. NBC News could not independently verify this claim.
Acknowledging it was an estimate, Shoshani said there could be anywhere between 300 and 600 miles of tunnels underneath the enclave. But he said it was hard to say because Israeli forces were still uncovering them.
“The more you search, the more you find things you didn’t know about,” he said, adding that his forces were “finding the tunnels and dismantling them” as part of President Donald Trump’s peace plan for Gaza. Reconstruction could not begin until they had been destroyed, he said.
Hamas is still present in Gaza and its fighters have not put down their weapons, a key stipulation in Trump’s plan, Shoshani said. “We won’t stop defending our people until they’ll put down their weapons,” he said, adding that they could be used to attack Israel again.
No Palestinians were seen during the roughly two-hour visit as none of them live in the area, which sits to the east of the “yellow line” that demarcates the parts of the enclave under Palestinian and Israeli control. Just over half of the territory is still run by the IDF.
On the other side live the remainder of the Palestinian population, which sat around 2.3 million before the Hamas-led attack on Oct. 7, 2023. Health officials in the enclave say more than 72,000 people have been killed in the Israeli military campaign, which began after Hamas launched multipronged attacks on Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking more than 240 people hostage.
Envisioned as a temporary boundary, the “yellow line” — which has been demarcated using yellow concrete blocks — has instead become a flashpoint, as some Palestinians who have approached it have been shot dead by Israeli forces.
Israeli forces have been accused of repeatedly crossing the boundary and moving the blocks inward, sowing confusion among Palestinians — something the IDF has repeatedly denied.
On the other side of the “yellow line” in Gaza City, in a worn-out tent, Iman Khzeiq, 70, said Monday that she was hopeful that one day she would be able to return to Shujaiya with her six grandchildren, whom she now cares for on her own.
“Their father was killed,” she said in an interview while sitting in a wheelchair. “Now I am both mother and father to them.”
Khzeiq, who said she suffered from diabetes and high blood pressure, added that instead of going to school, the children spent their days searching for water and food. But she was determined to stay near their home “even if we live on the rubble.”
Trump has other designs for Gaza and has said it will be rebuilt from scratch.
Unveiling his plans for the enclave at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland last month, slides showed dozens of skyscrapers and neighborhoods, while a map outlined the phased development of new residential, agricultural and industrial areas.
They were presented during a signing ceremony for his new Board of Peace, which has been tasked with ending the war and overseeing reconstruction.
There appears to be little building going on in Gaza, however.
Over four months after Trump’s ceasefire came into effect, the only sign of construction witnessed by NBC News was Israeli military vehicles fortifying a position and building a large berm, or mound of earth, which will enable them to look over the area.
