:00:08. > :00:12.This summer, Palestinians in Gaza were pounded by Israeli bombs.
:00:13. > :00:17.More than 2,000 people died - a quarter of them children.
:00:18. > :00:28.We find out what it?s been like for Israelis living under a barrage
:00:29. > :00:41.This war has fuelled anger not only in Gaza but around the world.
:00:42. > :00:44.We investigate how and why the battles were fought
:00:45. > :00:51.These terror tunnels, their whole purpose is just to
:00:52. > :00:58.Peace talks are due to begin, but what has either side achieved
:00:59. > :01:26.Asma al Ghoul is going to her old family home for the first time since
:01:27. > :01:33.She hasn?t dared to come here till now.
:01:34. > :01:36.It?s August - the fighting is still going on.
:01:37. > :01:39.There?s a ceasefire today - but the area is
:01:40. > :01:42.a Hamas stronghold and Asma fears it could be hit again any time.
:01:43. > :01:55.That room, my mum and our sister and brother always used to stay there.
:01:56. > :02:00.This relative survived, but nine other members of Asma?s
:02:01. > :02:07.extended family died when her uncle?s house was bombed.
:02:08. > :02:14.And how old was - how old was the youngest child who died?
:02:15. > :02:28.One of the twins died - the other survived but is injured.
:02:29. > :02:32.And this home, I know everything, this home,
:02:33. > :02:42.Parts of Gaza have been devastated - more than 100,000 are homeless.
:02:43. > :02:45.It?s the fourth war here in less than a decade,
:02:46. > :02:53.For weeks, bombs pounded Gaza and rockets
:02:54. > :03:00.It seemed like a showdown between Hamas and the Israeli army, but what
:03:01. > :03:06.And why was the cost in civilian lives lost, overwhelmingly here
:03:07. > :03:20.Israel was trying to protect its communities in the south,
:03:21. > :03:25.which have always born the brunt of Hamas attacks.
:03:26. > :03:28.I headed to a hill near the town of Sderot, overlooking Gaza.
:03:29. > :03:32.A ceasefire was supposed to be in force.
:03:33. > :03:43.But it wasn?t long before we found out what living under fire is like.
:03:44. > :03:49.We just heard a mortar come whistling over our heads.
:03:50. > :03:53.It landed just a few hundred metres to our right
:03:54. > :03:57.in the Israeli village over there, so we?re getting out of here now.
:03:58. > :04:03.In the car, we heard a rocket, too, had just hit Sderot.
:04:04. > :04:10.The rocket hit a house when the family were out.
:04:11. > :04:14.The physical damage may not look that great but there is
:04:15. > :04:19.Thousands of rockets have hit Sderot over the years -
:04:20. > :04:27.You see what they try to do to us, to kill us the innocents?
:04:28. > :04:33.Nobody can live with this situation - nobody in all the world.
:04:34. > :04:36.In a bomb shelter, I found four children from the
:04:37. > :04:41.house, taken there by the babysitter before the rocket attack.
:04:42. > :04:49.Many Israeli children have had to spend the summer in shelters.
:04:50. > :04:53.A neighbour whose own home had been hit a couple of days
:04:54. > :05:16.before blamed Hamas and his own Prime Minister, Bibi Netanyahu.
:05:17. > :05:20.Sderot has had to put up with Hamas fire for years.
:05:21. > :05:24.But the Israel government wasn't prepared to stand by
:05:25. > :05:29.when major cities and more than a million people were threatened.
:05:30. > :05:35.Just 27 miles long, the Gaza strip is home to 1.8 million Palestinians.
:05:36. > :05:42.It was occupied by Israel until 2005.
:05:43. > :05:46.I was in Gaza two years later, when Hamas took charge,
:05:47. > :05:53.ousting the more moderate Palestinian Authority government.
:05:54. > :05:57.Hamas is considered a terrorist organisation by Britain,
:05:58. > :06:06.The militant Islamist group has sworn to destroy Israel.
:06:07. > :06:10.When Israel imposed a blockade on Gaza, Hamas dug tunnels
:06:11. > :06:16.into Egypt to smuggle in everything from household goods to weapons.
:06:17. > :06:19.Last year when a new Egyptian government destroyed those tunnels,
:06:20. > :06:23.Hamas lost its economic lifeline, seriously affecting
:06:24. > :06:33.By the start of this year, Hamas couldn't pay the salaries
:06:34. > :06:35.of its workers and its leader warned the people of Gaza
:06:36. > :06:41.Hamas was preparing for a showdown with Israel, to ease the blockade
:06:42. > :06:53.The trigger was pulled not in Gaza, but on the occupied West Bank
:06:54. > :06:58.A Hamas cell targeted three Israeli teenagers hitching home
:06:59. > :07:07.One of them was 16-year-old Naftali Frenkel.
:07:08. > :07:10.Somebody stopped, er, apparently Israeli with an Israeli licence,
:07:11. > :07:18.The boys got into the car but quickly realised they were
:07:19. > :07:24.One of them made a phone call to the police.
:07:25. > :07:44.Then there was the sound of muffled gunshots.
:07:45. > :07:49.For me, the silence was very, very scary -
:07:50. > :08:02.It's every parent's nightmare, their child shouldn't get home
:08:03. > :08:11.Israel cracked down, destroying the homes of the suspected kidnappers.
:08:12. > :08:14.They arrested hundreds of members of Hamas.
:08:15. > :08:16.After 18 days, the bodies of the teenagers were found.
:08:17. > :08:19.In an interview with Panorama, the leader of Hamas took
:08:20. > :08:30.Hamas hasn't avoided responsibility for this event.
:08:31. > :08:32.Hamas cells did it, but in the context
:08:33. > :08:35.of self-defence against Israeli occupation and settlement policy.
:08:36. > :08:38.Two weeks later, another boy - Palestinian Mohammed Abu Khadir -
:08:39. > :08:44.was the victim of a tit-for-tat murder.
:08:45. > :08:48.His father described how Mohammed was seized from outside this shop
:08:49. > :08:58.The man who abducted Mohamed was an Israeli with a history
:08:59. > :09:10.TRANSLATION: Killing him was the worst crime in history.
:09:11. > :09:14.They poured petrol in his mouth, on his body, he was still alive when
:09:15. > :09:19.With tensions boiling over, Hamas fired a barrage of rockets into
:09:20. > :09:22.Israel, and Israeli jets bombed Gaza.
:09:23. > :09:28.By the beginning of July, it was all-out war.
:09:29. > :09:31.Hamas has launched rockets from built-up areas of Gaza,
:09:32. > :09:41.They've hidden the identity of this fighter as he positions
:09:42. > :09:51.But the crude rockets are no match for Israel's Iron Dome.
:09:52. > :09:53.This half-billion dollar anti-missile system has destroyed
:09:54. > :09:59.nearly 90% of the thousands of Hamas rockets which have targeted Israel.
:10:00. > :10:02.In this asymmetric war, Hamas deployed a weapon they too had
:10:03. > :10:10.An even more complex network of tunnels - these ones built under
:10:11. > :10:22.TRANSLATION: Everybody knows that "necessity is the mother of
:10:23. > :10:26.These tunnels were dug by the Resistance,
:10:27. > :10:32.in self-defence against a superior technological and military power.
:10:33. > :10:35.The Israelis had tried to keep tabs on the tunnel network as it grew,
:10:36. > :10:45.according to a government minister and former spy chief.
:10:46. > :10:48.The Hamas has built an underground Gaza, and that's
:10:49. > :10:52.a famous tactic in order to use this as a weapon, a terroristic
:10:53. > :11:01.Hamas filmed themselves during this war launching
:11:02. > :11:06.an attack through a tunnel on the Israeli village of Nahal Oz.
:11:07. > :11:09.Their mission was to seize a soldier - they failed, but killed
:11:10. > :11:32.We capture Israeli soldiers on the battlefield - not civilians.
:11:33. > :11:34.We capture them to release our 7,000 prisoners.
:11:35. > :11:38.When Israel frees our prisoners, we will no longer need to capture
:11:39. > :11:44.During this war, the Israelis discovered just how
:11:45. > :11:47.extensive the Hamas tunnel network was, running up to two miles
:11:48. > :12:02.An Israeli commander took me into one of Hamas's attack tunnels
:12:03. > :12:07.which emerges between two Israeli villages.
:12:08. > :12:09.So you see, it's well-designed - works very well.
:12:10. > :12:13.The tunnels are lined with cement, a precious commodity in Gaza,
:12:14. > :12:18.which Israel has tried to restrict with its blockade.
:12:19. > :12:25.The Hamas used tens of millions of dollars, thousands of tonnes
:12:26. > :12:32.As the war went on, the Israelis discovered what a huge investment
:12:33. > :12:39.of time and money Hamas had made in these tunnels, dug by hand.
:12:40. > :12:45.Why didn't you know about these tunnels before?
:12:46. > :12:49.We were aware of those tunnels, but it's very complicated.
:12:50. > :12:53.It's not enough to find it in Israel, because you have to
:12:54. > :13:10.On 17th July, the Israelis launched a ground
:13:11. > :13:21.offensive that would destroy more than 30 tunnels inside Gaza.
:13:22. > :13:24.Deep underground, these special forces were the first
:13:25. > :13:31.They used robots to scout the extensive network to find
:13:32. > :13:41.We can't identify these combat engineers - they've
:13:42. > :13:51.We have encountered the enemy in the tunnels several times.
:13:52. > :14:07.The Israeli unit lost that soldier here in Shujayea ? scene of one
:14:08. > :14:11.of the most intensive battles of the war.
:14:12. > :14:14.This built up area in eastern Gaza was the starting point
:14:15. > :14:20.Hamas used them to try and seize Israeli soldiers.
:14:21. > :14:31.The entrance to the tunnel was just a hundred metres from this
:14:32. > :14:39.I personally witnessed in trying to kidnap soldiers, trying to separate
:14:40. > :14:42.The entrance to the tunnel was just a hundred metres from this
:14:43. > :14:46.It had been hit a week earlier by Israeli shelling.
:14:47. > :14:48.Staff and patients then evacuated the hospital following
:14:49. > :14:58.The building then became a flashpoint in the battle.
:14:59. > :15:06.we took a heavy fire from the hospital. Yes, I'm sure about it,
:15:07. > :15:09.they continued to fire from the hospital.
:15:10. > :15:11.The Israelis say their army video shows flashes
:15:12. > :15:17.of fire - Hamas attacking them from inside the Wafa hospital.
:15:18. > :15:22.We had to bomb the hospital because it was a standing post of Hamas.
:15:23. > :15:25.The Israelis also claim secondary explosions prove weaponry was
:15:26. > :15:32.This is a lie. Israel accuses Hamas of doing this
:15:33. > :15:41.Today much of Shujayea is a wasteland.
:15:42. > :15:51.This pile of rubble is all that?s left of the Wafa hospital.
:15:52. > :15:58.It will cost millions to re-build it.
:15:59. > :16:00.In the battle, many houses around it were destroyed -
:16:01. > :16:19.TRANSLATION: I left because the area was being shelled and bombed from
:16:20. > :16:27.the east, I was afraid for my family. TRANSLATION: Where is our
:16:28. > :16:30.street, our house? 25, 30 people living in it. It's a catastrophe.
:16:31. > :16:33.200 people, some of them civilians, died in the battle in Shujayea.
:16:34. > :16:36.The question is did Israel target them or was Hamas using them
:16:37. > :16:53.You have to ask this question to Hamas, why are they using civilian
:16:54. > :16:59.spots, schools, hospitals, as their military headquarters? You have no
:17:00. > :17:07.choice if you are in this round of war hostility and rockets are
:17:08. > :17:14.launched from these places. Cancellation
:17:15. > :17:16.Israel is seeking excuses to strike hospitals.
:17:17. > :17:19.The next chapter in the war of the tunnels was here in Rafah ?
:17:20. > :17:23.When Hamas tried to abduct another Israeli soldier this place became
:17:24. > :17:26.the focus of the so-called Hannibal Directive ? an order to
:17:27. > :17:35.You are using all the means from the ground
:17:36. > :17:40.and sometime you are also asking for an outside backup in order to chase
:17:41. > :17:49.On August 1st there was a humanitarian ceasefire.
:17:50. > :17:52.Under its terms, this Israeli unit was continuing
:17:53. > :17:57.Hamas killed two of them, and dragged a third,
:17:58. > :18:06.One of his comrades, Lt Eitan, told me how he carried out
:18:07. > :18:24.I decided to go inside the tunnel so I took with me a couple of soldiers
:18:25. > :18:32.Andrew went down the tunnel to look for Hadar. We saw he was dragged
:18:33. > :18:41.inside, we continued about 800 Metres. What was it like in the
:18:42. > :18:46.tunnels? Very deep, very dark, very small, claustrophobic.
:18:47. > :18:49.The tunnel was booby trapped with explosives.
:18:50. > :18:53.We had to go find him, we had to get him no matter what the cost is.
:18:54. > :18:55.But the Hannibal Directive didn?t save Hadar Goldin.
:18:56. > :18:58.He was declared dead the next day ? Hamas has still not
:18:59. > :19:08.Over the next two days the Israelis bombed Rafah intensively.
:19:09. > :19:14.Some were militants ? some, women and children.
:19:15. > :19:16.Israel?s been accused of using indiscriminate force while carrying
:19:17. > :19:28.The blame that we have used it in order to attack civilians
:19:29. > :19:43.I am not only denying it ? I am talking facts.
:19:44. > :19:47.Israel claim it only bombed military targets in Rafah.
:19:48. > :19:50.But Asma al Ghoul?s family home here was destroyed ? women
:19:51. > :20:09.When I heard the news and I saw the bodies, like my uncle...
:20:10. > :20:11.Some of Asma?s family belong to Hamas.
:20:12. > :20:14.But as a journalist she?s had her run-ins with the Islamist group -
:20:15. > :20:25.harassed for not wearing a headscarf on the beach.
:20:26. > :20:34.Your relatives had connections with Hamas, surely that is why the house
:20:35. > :20:36.was attacked. Not this uncle at all. If they are, I will say that, it's
:20:37. > :20:40.very easy. The Israeli military says
:20:41. > :20:43.the house was a Hamas command and control centre used to plan
:20:44. > :20:46.terror attacks against Israel. They could not confirm if civilians
:20:47. > :20:54.were there when they bombed it. There?s anger across the world over
:20:55. > :20:56.the civilian casualties caused They say they make every
:20:57. > :21:09.effort to avoid them. I met one of the Israeli
:21:10. > :21:12.surveillance pilots ? we cannot show We have to make sure there's no
:21:13. > :21:17.people walking around, any So we?ll have to have cameras
:21:18. > :21:44.on that area before So if you are carrying out this
:21:45. > :21:52.surveillance, how come so may civilians have been killed in
:21:53. > :21:57.Israeli air strikes? We can only see what is going on outside so if
:21:58. > :22:00.people are inside the houses, we have developed techniques to get the
:22:01. > :22:02.civilians as far away as possible from the battlefield.
:22:03. > :22:04.One controversial Israeli technique used in this war
:22:05. > :22:08.and over the last six years is what they call ?the knock on the roof?.
:22:09. > :22:11.First a non explosive warning rocket is fired.
:22:12. > :22:15.The impact is intended to give people a few minutes to get
:22:16. > :22:24.However Israel justifies its methods of avoiding civilian
:22:25. > :22:27.casualties ? its bombs have killed hundreds of women and children.
:22:28. > :22:35.So has their military action been disproportionate?
:22:36. > :22:46.We have warned civilians, Hamas could avoid many, many losses. So
:22:47. > :22:50.the blame is not on Israel, the blame is on Hamas and Israel is
:22:51. > :22:56.sorrow for every loss of civilian life.
:22:57. > :22:58.The UN is now investigating alleged war crimes on both sides.
:22:59. > :23:02.Hamas is accused of using its own people as human shields
:23:03. > :23:11.and firing rockets indiscriminately at civilians in Israel.
:23:12. > :23:19.TRANSLATION: First, we do not target Israeli civilians. Second, we don't
:23:20. > :23:24.have accurate smart missiles like the Israeli military. Give us those
:23:25. > :23:28.guided missiles and we will never launch rockets at just anyone, we
:23:29. > :23:29.will only target the Israeli military.
:23:30. > :23:32.On the other side alleged war crimes by Israel include hitting
:23:33. > :23:43.On July 30th paramedic Ibrahim abu el Qais was in this ambulance
:23:44. > :23:55.when a call came ? Shujayea was under Israeli fire again.
:23:56. > :24:04.TRANSLATION: When we headed there, the situation was incredibly
:24:05. > :24:05.dangerous. Everywhere we went to common sense that death was a
:24:06. > :24:07.certainty. The ambulances were being
:24:08. > :24:09.followed by local TV crews. Ibrahim, one of the first
:24:10. > :24:12.on the scene went into Then in the street below him,
:24:13. > :24:21.there was another explosion. 17 people were now dead, including
:24:22. > :24:36.a paramedic and a photographer. Unfortunately there is no respect
:24:37. > :24:41.for the uniform or the ambulance. The planes bombing knew we were
:24:42. > :24:42.here. After they bombed us the first time, then you another ambulance
:24:43. > :24:46.would be coming here soon. The Israeli army told us they are
:24:47. > :24:48.still investigating this incident involving the ambulances
:24:49. > :24:50.in Shujayea. The Israelis have also announced
:24:51. > :24:53.they are investigating possible war crimes by their own forces
:24:54. > :24:59.in five other cases. There were no comparable scenes
:25:00. > :25:02.in Israel like the ones the world saw daily from Gaza?s
:25:03. > :25:07.hospitals during the war. And so arguably
:25:08. > :25:10.in many countries Israel?s lost the biggest battle in this conflict
:25:11. > :25:26.? the battle for public opinion. What should Israel do when 5 million
:25:27. > :25:35.civilians are under heavy rocket attack? We should sit and wait? I am
:25:36. > :25:40.asking the international community, what they have done is the same
:25:41. > :25:45.would happen in their country against their civilians?
:25:46. > :25:48.Thousands of Israelis gathered in Tel Aviv as the war drew to a close.
:25:49. > :26:01.The majority of Israelis don?t think this conflict had any clear winner.
:26:02. > :26:05.Many of the tunnels are destroyed ? but the war cost Israel the lives
:26:06. > :26:12.And Hamas is still in Gaza - armed with rockets.
:26:13. > :26:15.Many Israelis wanted their army to stay in Gaza
:26:16. > :26:28.When the ceasefire took hold, Hamas celebrated what they called
:26:29. > :26:31.They tightened their hold on Gaza ? executing people they
:26:32. > :26:37.But Hamas have made no solid gains in this war ? there?s no guarantee
:26:38. > :26:40.the blockade will be lifted or they?ll get the airport
:26:41. > :26:51.and the seaport they?re demanding to open Gaza to the outside world.
:26:52. > :26:53.If the international community doesn?t deliver this or if Israel
:26:54. > :26:56.manoeuvres and deceives, we will fight and resume our struggle.
:26:57. > :26:59.These are our rights and the whole world will be responsible
:27:00. > :27:14.The solution is not a military solution. The solution is
:27:15. > :27:20.diplomatic. We have to sit around the table. Israel is committed to
:27:21. > :27:26.defend its sovereignty, it citizens and unfortunately, if we have to do
:27:27. > :27:39.it again, we will do it without hesitation.
:27:40. > :27:40.Israel?s now seized nearly a thousand acres
:27:41. > :27:44.of the occupied West Bank ? in response to the killing of the three
:27:45. > :27:46.Israeli teenagers. The move?s been condemned by the Palestinians and
:27:47. > :27:48.internationally. Last night two Palestinians suspected of kidnapping
:27:49. > :27:55.the three boys were killed when the Israeli army tried to capture them.
:27:56. > :27:57.In Gaza, Asma is visiting baby Ibrahim whose
:27:58. > :28:07.twin brother Mustafa was killed when their family home was bombed.
:28:08. > :28:18.Asma now believes it is Hamas who will reap the advantage
:28:19. > :28:47.Once again they?re trying to rebuild their lives in Gaza.
:28:48. > :28:53.Peace talks are due to start this week.
:28:54. > :28:56.But people here ? and in Israel, don?t believe they?ve seen
:28:57. > :29:30.I put my arms over my son and I put my leg over my daughter,
:29:31. > :29:32.then the footsteps got closer and closer
:29:33. > :29:37.A year on, those that survived the Westgate Mall attack in Nairobi