Palestinians are returning in their thousands to their homes in Khan Younis, following the Israeli military’s completion of a week-long operation in the southern Gaza city.
Israeli troops re-entered the city last week after officials said that Hamas was attempting “to reassemble its forces there”. Some 150,000 Palestinians were forced to flee their homes ahead of the operation, according to two UN agencies.
Israel Defence Forces (IDF) officials on Tuesday said more than 150 gunmen had been killed during the offensive which lasted a week.
But the Hamas-run Gaza media office put the figure of Palestinians killed at a minimum of 250 and those injured at more than 300 during the fighting, with thirty more still missing, they said.
Reuters news agency reported that aid workers could be seen on Tuesday in the streets of Khan Younis collecting dead bodies and wrapping them in rugs, before transporting them to morgues around the city.
Thousands of Palestinians, most of whom arrived on foot carrying their possessions, streamed back into the city as Israeli forces withdrew, with many reporting extensive damage to their homes.
Witnesses told Reuters that the IDF had bulldozed the main cemetery in Bani Suhaila, the town on the eastern outskirts of Khan Younis. Nearby homes and roads had also been damaged, according to them.
The Hamas-run media office said around 300 houses were hit by Israeli munitions during the raid, 30 of which they said were inhabited at the time.
Some returning residents said they had been displaced from their homes a number of times before.
“I am coming back and I have faith in God. I don’t know whether we will live or die, but it is all for the sake of the homeland,” said Etimad Al-Masri.
She had been forced to walk 5km (3 miles) in the intense heat.
Israeli forces had previously withdrawn from Khan Younis in April after months of intense fighting, with commanders saying their mission in the area had been completed.
Palestinians in their thousands subsequently returned, especially as IDF operations began in Rafah in early May.
But IDF troops spent the past several weeks launching renewed assaults on areas it had previously left, claiming it is seeking to prevent Hamas from regrouping.
In a similar development, Israel has ordered thousands of people to leave their homes in the central al-Bureij area. It comes as strikes have begun ahead of a possible new operation in the area.
Gaza’s health ministry says over 39,000 Palestinians have been killed since the conflict started in October.
The war began when Hamas attacked Israel on 7 October, killing around 1,200 people and taking 251 hostage.
Source: BBC News
