Urban battle from past Gaza war offers glimpse of what an Israeli ground offensive might look like
CTV
A battle that killed dozens of civilians and more than a dozen Israeli soldiers nearly a decade ago offers a glimpse of the type of fighting that could lie ahead if Israeli forces roll into Gaza as expected.
A battle that killed dozens of civilians and more than a dozen Israeli soldiers nearly a decade ago offers a glimpse of the type of fighting that could lie ahead if Israeli forces roll into Gaza as expected to punish Hamas for its rampage across southern Israel last week.
It was July 19, 2014, during Israel's third war against Hamas. The target was Shijaiyah, a densely populated neighbourhood of Gaza City that the army said Hamas had transformed into a "terrorist fortress," filled with tunnels, rocket launchers and booby traps.
The battle came on the third day of a ground offensive that had been preceded by a 10-day air campaign. Then, as now, Palestinian civilians had been told to leave the neighbourhood, Then, as now, many stayed, either because Hamas told them to or because they had nowhere else to go.
As Israeli forces pushed into Shijaiyah, a jumble of squat concrete buildings and narrow alleys, militants unleashed a withering barrage of automatic gunfire, anti-tank missiles and rocket-propelled grenades, the army said at the time.
An armoured personnel carrier broke down. When two soldiers got out to fix it, a militant fired an anti-tank missile at the vehicle, blowing it up and killing all seven soldiers inside. In the ensuing chaos, Hamas fighters managed to drag away the remains of one of the soldiers and are still holding them.
In the panicked aftermath, soldiers were ordered to climb into their armoured vehicles as artillery battalions fired 600 shells and aircraft struck from overhead. The next day, Israeli warplanes dropped 100 one-ton bombs on the area, Israeli media reported later.
"The gate of hell has opened, and shrapnel came through the windows," a Palestinian resident told the AP at the time.
