Palestinians arrived in the southern Gaza Strip town of Khan Younis on Monday to salvage what they could from the devastation left by an Israeli offensive, a day after Israel announced a withdrawal from the area, The Independent reports.
Many returned to the Gaza Strip’s second largest city to find their former hometown unrecognisable. There are virtually no surviving buildings in the city, with homes, schools and businesses now replaced by piles of rubble.
Israel sent troops into Khan Younis in December as part of its massive ground offensive, which was in response to a Hamas attack on southern Israel on 7 October. According to Israeli authorities, 1,200 people, mostly civilians, were killed and about 250 were taken hostage.
The war, now in its seventh month, has killed more than 33,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, displaced most of the territory’s 2.3 million residents and rendered large areas of the besieged Gaza Strip uninhabitable, according to local health authorities. Mahmoud Abdel-Ghani, who fled Khan Younis in December when Israel began its ground invasion of the city, said:
Many areas, especially the city center, have become unfit for life. I found that my house and my neighbors’ houses turned to rubble.
The Israeli withdrawal from Khan Younis marked the end of a key phase of the war against Hamas and brought Israeli troop numbers in the tiny coastal enclave to one of the lowest since the war began.
Israel said the town was a major Hamas stronghold and claims its operation over the past few months has killed thousands of militants and severely damaged a vast network of tunnels used by Hamas to move weapons and fighters. It is also claimed to have found evidence of hostages being held in the city.
The latest Israeli withdrawal has also allowed some Palestinians to return to the area and scour the mountains of rubble in an attempt to salvage some possessions.
Najwa Ayyash, who was also forced to flee Khan Younis, said she was unable to reach her family’s third-floor flat because the stairs in the house were destroyed. Her brother climbed the destroyed staircase and brought down some belongings, including light clothing for her children.
Bassel Abu Nasser, a Khan Younis resident who fled after an airstrike on his home in January, said most of the town was destroyed. The 37-year-old father of two children said:
There is no sense of life there. They left nothing there.
On Sunday, shortly after the military announced its withdrawal, crowds of Palestinians could be seen leaving Khan Younis with their meagre belongings. On foot and on bicycles, they carried plastic bags and laundry baskets with what they could gather back to where they were forced out.
The military exodus from Khan Younis comes ahead of an expected Israeli offensive on Rafah, Gaza’s southernmost city, where hundreds of thousands have fled fighting elsewhere to seek refuge and which Israel says is Hamas’s last major stronghold.
The city is home to about 1.4 million people – more than half of Gaza’s population. The prospect of an offensive has alarmed the world, including Israel’s main ally, the US, which has demanded a credible plan to protect civilians.
Allowing people to return to nearby Khan Younis could ease the pressure on Rafah, but many have no homes to return to. In addition, the town is likely filled with dangerous unexploded bombs left over from the fighting.
The Israeli military continues to carry out airstrikes and raids in areas where it believes Hamas has regrouped, including Gaza’s largest hospital, Al-Shifa, leaving behind what the head of the World Health Organisation called an “empty shell”. Israel blames Hamas for the damage, saying it has been fighting in civilian areas.
Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis has also been subjected to Israeli raids. Troops stormed it earlier this year as the military said there were remains of hostages inside.
Israel says its war is aimed at destroying Hamas’s military and governance capabilities and returning some 130 remaining hostages, a quarter of whom Israel says are dead. Negotiations mediated by Qatar, Egypt and the US are underway to secure a ceasefire in exchange for the release of the hostages.
