Thousands of Palestinians return to Khan Younis as IDF withdraws

Thousands of Palestinians are returning to their homes in Khan Younis, after the Israeli military said it had completed 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, two UN agencies said.

On Tuesday, Israel Defence Forces (IDF) officials said more than 150 gunmen had been killed during the week long offensive.

But the Hamas-run Gaza media office said at least 250 Palestinians were killed and more than 300 injured during the fighting. Thirty more remain missing, they said.

On Tuesday, aid workers could be seen in the streets of Khan Younis collecting dead bodies and wrapping them in rugs, before transporting them to morgues around the city, the Reuters news agency reported.

Thousands of Palestinians – many carrying their possessions – streamed back into the city as Israeli forces withdrew, with many reporting extensive damage to their homes. Most arrived on foot.

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, they said.

According to the Hamas-run media office, around 300 houses were hit by Israeli munitions during the raid – 30 of which they said were inhabited at the time.

Some residents returning 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Israeli forces had previously withdrawn from Khan Younis in April after months of intense fighting, with commanders saying their objectives in the area had been completed.

Thousands of Palestinians subsequently returned, especially as IDF operations began in Rafah in early May.

But IDF troops have spent the past several weeks launching renewed assaults on areas it had previously left, saying it is seeking to prevent Hamas from regrouping.

Elsewhere, 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.

Since the conflict began in October more than 39,000 Palestinians have been killed, according to Gaza’s health ministry.

The war started when Hamas attacked Israel on 7 October, killing around 1,200 people and taking 251 hostage.