Going underground in Gaza, CNN's Ivana Korasova was among a
small group of journalists granted access to two tunnel compounds
where
Israel's military says hostages were held.
Now, an Israeli military escort accompanied the journalists,
and the IDF reviewed CNN footage of the tunnels as
a condition to join that embed.
An Israeli commander says that the tunnels are part of
a vast underground system used by Hamas to carry out
the October 7th terror attacks.
Well, Ivana joins me now from Jerusalem.
Ivana, what did you see?
Hello, Becky. So it's important to say that I went
in with the Israeli military,
which means that I only saw what they allowed me
to see.
And yet I can tell you that the devastation that
I saw in Gaza is absolutely incredible.
We drove from the Gaza border fence to Khan Yunis,
and I had limited view,
but I can tell you,
Becky, I did not see a single building that would
not be damaged in some way,
and most were completely destroyed beyond any chance of repair.
It's been raining heavily in Gaza in recent weeks,
so there's a lot of mud everywhere,
and it's just piles and piles of rubble
and bulldozed remains of buildings everywhere.
Now, the Israeli military says that this level of destruction
is necessary because they're trying to destroy this huge underground
network of tunnels that they say Hamas has built underneath
much of Gaza. And this is what they wanted us
see.
We went to two different underground compounds where the Israelis
say that Hamas held some of the hostages that were
taken during the October Seven attacks,
and where they also say that Hamas leaders were hiding
even now during the war.
Of course we can't verify these facts,
but this is what they were telling us.
And I can tell you that being inside those tunnels
is very unpleasant experience.
They're very narrow, very dark.
It's quite some level underground,
so it gets very, very hot
in there. The the floor is covered in mud in
many places and then you enter into the compound and
that's where it really gets quite strange because some of
these rooms inside the compound are furnished in a in
a very strange way.
For instance, a kitchen with tiling on the walls that
is arranged in patterns that you would normally see in
domestic kitchen.
And then they took us into the room where some
of the hostages were held.
And again, this was just horrific.
It's a very narrow dark room that is very wet
from the condensation.
It just is very unpleasant experience and you really have
no idea where you are,
what time of day it is
and what is happening around you.
Becky
Ivana, good to have you.
Thank you.