Touring a Tunnel in Gaza That Leads Underneath a Hospital

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To Israelis, the location of an underground passageway highlights Hamas’s abuse of civilians. To Palestinians, Israel’s decision to target it highlights Israel’s own disregard for civilian life.

Two feet wide and less than six feet tall, the tunnel led deep beneath a major hospital in southern Gaza.

The underground air bore the stench of what smelled like human remains. After walking some 40 yards along the tunnel, we found the likely cause.

In a tiny room that the tunnel led to, the floor was stained with blood. It was here, according to the Israeli military, that Muhammad Sinwar — one of Hamas’s top militant commanders — was killed last month after a nearby barrage of Israeli strikes.

What we saw in that dark and narrow tunnel is one of the war’s biggest Rorschach tests, the embodiment of a broader narrative battle between Israelis and Palestinians over how the conflict should be portrayed.

The military escorted a reporter from The New York Times to the tunnel on Sunday afternoon, as part of a brief and controlled visit for international journalists that the Israelis hoped would prove that Hamas uses civilian infrastructure as a shield for militant activity.

To Palestinians, Israel’s attack on, and subsequent capture of, the hospital compound highlighted its own disregard for civilian activity.

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