Israeli soldiers take positions on top of a mock minaret.
Zeelim army base in southern Israel is known officially as the Urban Warfare Training Centre. But to some soldiers, it is known as Mini Gaza, simulating a Palestinian urban area with 500 buildings and narrow alleyways adorned with murals and posters honouring slain fighters
Israeli soldiers gather during an urban warfare exercise. The training centre can accommodate exercises for an entire brigade of 2,000 soldiers at once
Soldiers conduct a mock assault. ‘Free Gaza’ graffiti adorns the walls. The military began building the £36m ($45m) facility in the Zeelim army base in 2005, toward the end of the second Palestinian intifada, or uprising, against Israeli rule. Over the previous five years, Israeli troops had battled Palestinian militants in cities and towns across the occupied West Bank and Gaza
An Israeli soldier dresses as a Palestinian militant
Soldiers rest next to a mural depicting the late Hamas leader Sheikh Ahmad Yassin. The army’s sole official graffiti artist decorates the streets with murals featuring Arabic slogans and portraits of Palestinian and Lebanese militants
Soldiers aim their weapons toward a colleague dressed as a Palestinian militant, while he exits from a fake tunnel
Soldiers scale a wall as they conduct a mock assault during an urban warfare exercise. ‘The nature of war has changed,’ says Col Eli Abeles, the facility’s commander. ‘Today our principal fighting ... is done around built-up areas and in built-up areas.’
Soldiers rest in a damaged car
Israeli soldiers participate in a training session simulating urban warfare. Visiting American troops and forces from European allies — most recently Cypriot soldiers — have also trained in Mini Gaza
Soldiers carry ammunition past a graffiti featuring the Palestinian flag
Soldiers climb a wall as they mount an assault on a complex at the facility
A soldier reads next to mock Palestinian graffiti. The tight alleyways, drab concrete buildings and open areas in the roughly 24-hectare (60-acre) facility are meant to simulate the urban environments in which Israel’s soldiers often operate. These can include Gaza and the West Bank, as well as southern Lebanon, where Israel has warned potential future fighting with Hezbollah militants would likely take place
Photograph: Oded Balilty/AP
Soldiers take positions during a training session at the centre that includes 500 buildings and alleyways
An Israeli soldier pretending to be dead Palestinian militant lies on the ground during a training session
Israeli soldiers rest next to faded posters of slain Palestinian fighters
Two M-16 rifles hang on a wall with a graffiti featuring the Palestinian flag
