During their swift takeover of Gaza in 2007, Hamas militants from the group’s Khan Younis stronghold sped northward up the central Salah ad-Din Road, heading to Gaza City. They met little resistance from the western-backed forces of the Palestinian Authority.
“They looked left and right, no one was there, so they just kept going” towards the capital, a foreign diplomat then based in the region recalled. In fewer than six days, Hamas had seized the entire coastal enclave.
Now the Israeli army has moved south along that same road towards Khan Younis, having already overrun Gaza City, as it seeks to end Hamas’s more than 15-year rule in the territory.
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