JERUSALEM — The Israeli army presented this Monday in the center of the Gaza Strip a complex of tunnels and workshops that it described as “the largest weapons manufacturing site” of the Hamas terrorist group discovered “since the start of the war.”
The buildings in Bureij shown to journalists, moved to the site by the army, must have housed a cement plant or other industrial products, said General Daniel Hagari, an Israeli military spokesman.
But in reality, they were used to make weapons, especially missiles and rockets that were stored in underground warehouses equipped with special sensors, he added.
The site is located on the Salaheddine highway, an important north-south artery of Gaza “through which humanitarian aid is transported from Rafah,” on the border with Egypt, “to Gaza City,” Hagari added.
He explained that this location is not coincidental: the Palestinian Islamist movement was convinced that Israel would not attack that axis.
The spokesman showed journalists rocket launchers capable of hitting targets at 100 km, twice the distance between the site and Tel Aviv.
He said that the weapons were manufactured with materials and products such as fertilizers, intended for civilian use.
Dismantling of Hamas military structure
Tens of thousands of people lived in Bureij before the war, but during the journalists’ visit the site 10 km from Gaza City appeared to be deserted.
The Israeli army announced on January 6 that it had “completed the dismantling of the Hamas military structure in the north of the Gaza Strip” and that it “is now concentrating on (…) the center and south” of the territory.
Around the industrial site, excavators operated in a desolate landscape among badly damaged buildings.
Israel launched a harsh bombing and ground invasion campaign in the Gaza Strip in response to the October 7 Hamas attacks on its territory, which left 1,200 dead, mostly civilians.
More than 23,000 people, mostly women and children, have been killed in the Israeli retaliation, according to the Hamas-controlled Gaza Health Ministry.
After three months of war, the territory of 2.4 million inhabitants became “uninhabitable”, according to the UN.
Source: With information from AFP
