After the IDF withdrew most of its forces from the southern Gaza Strip, residents began returning to the Khan Younis area Sunday, witnessing the destruction left behind after Israel's battle against the Hamas terror organization.
Residents told Saudi Al-Arabiya channel, whose reporters are in the strip, "Our lives have been destroyed." One of them, riding a donkey-drawn cart, bitterly called out to the camera, "We want to live! We want to live!" – a reminder of the slogan of the small protest movement that emerged in the strip in recent years, only to be quickly crushed by Hamas terrorists.
Video: Destruction in Khan Younis / Credit: Arab media
One interviewee said, "There is no home, our home was destroyed. We did not find anything in the home. Our lives are ruined."
On some of the destroyed walls in Khan Younis, the Arabic media documented graffiti left by our Israeli forces, such as "Am Yisrael Chai."
سكان #خان_يونس يتفقدون منازلهم المتفحمة وأحياءهم المدمرة بعد انسحاب الجيش الإسرائيلي منها: حياتنا تدمرت وهذه مدينة أشباح#العربية pic.twitter.com/ZruqQ8OLjb
— العربية (@AlArabiya) April 8, 2024
Remnants of the war are visible everywhere – in schools that had been used as outposts by terror groups as Hamas is known to use civilian infrastructure for terror purposes, gas stations, and streets bulldozed by the IDF over concerns about explosives.
Video: Footage of Khan Younis after IDF withdrawal / Credit: Arab media
One Palestinian returning to Khan Younis even tried to feign optimism in an interview with Al-Jazeera, "Praise be to Allah, there is total destruction (but) praise be to Allah. We can live like this. As long as our children are alive and well, we will be compensated for all this."
Another Palestinian who fled Khan Younis in December said, "Some areas, especially in the city center, have become uninhabitable. I found my house and my neighbors' houses turned into rubble."
? شاهد: المئات من النازحين من رفح يعودون إلى خانيونس والوسطى pic.twitter.com/6kY2r1yOrl
— ????منير الجاغوب ???? (@MonirAljaghoub) April 8, 2024
In additional footage emerging from the Gaza Strip Monday, many Gazans could be seen traveling by vehicle back to areas vacated by IDF forces. "Before you is the great destruction in the Nasser neighborhood of Khan Younis, where IDF forces were," the cameraman narrated.
Another Gazan said, "I remember the start of the ground invasion of the strip. Hamas told us not to go south, claiming psychological warfare. I did not care and was the first displaced in the war, as I knew the situation was very dangerous. Hot days have passed since, the war escalated, and they [Hamas] lost control – until they fled far from death to southern Gaza. The battle for Rafah is drawing very close, and so is the decisive end."
