Israel Trains in ‘Little Gaza’ to Prepare for Ground Invasion: Report

Israeli soldiers preparing to mount what is expected to be a large-scale ground invasion of the Gaza Strip have been training for the operation at a makeshift Palestinian village nicknamed “Little Gaza” at a base in southern Israel, as the country continues to pound the Palestinian enclave with airstrikes.

The replica—built to mimic Gaza’s densely packed geography, with 600 structures, including eight-story tall buildings, mosques and schools, as well as tunnels such as those constructed inside the enclave by Hamas—was constructed in 2006, and is known officially as the Urban Training Center, the Wall Street Journal reported.

"Little Gaza" is located at an Israeli base in the Negev Desert.

The site is currently being used to train some of the more than 300,000 reservists and other troops that Israel has lined up for a possible ground invasion as it responds to Hamas’ devastating attack on Israel on October 7.

In a 2022 report, the Times of Israel said the training center could accommodate an entire brigade—or 2,000 soldiers at a time. Visiting troops from the U.S. and European allies of Israel are also reported to have trained at the facility.

The emphasis on simulating the conditions inside the Gaza Strip is due to the dangers and highly complex logistics involved in navigating the area, where Hamas has built a tunnel network, known as the "Gaza Metro," reported to be some 300 miles long.

While it unclear when precisely when Israel’s leadership will give the go-ahead for a ground invasion, the country’s military made its biggest incursion of the current conflict into the Gaza Strip Thursday, attacking multiple targets in the Hamas-ruled enclave, as the civilian death toll there continued to climb.

Thursday's raids, which saw Israeli armored vehicles move briefly into the northern Gaza Strip before retreating back into Israeli territory, was “in preparation for the next stages of combat,” the Israeli military said—a phrase that was seen as a reference to the coming ground invasion.