'Wasteland': Palestinians Return to Khan Younis, Find Their Homes and City Destroyed by Israel

Chris Menahan
InformationLiberation
Apr. 08, 2024

Palestinians began returning to Khan Younis on Monday in the wake of Israel's withdrawal only to find their homes and city destroyed by the Jewish state's US-backed bombing campaign.

From AP, "Palestinians returning to Khan Younis after Israeli withdrawal find an unrecognizable city":

Streams of Palestinians filed into the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis on Monday to salvage what they could from the vast destruction left in the wake of Israel’s offensive, a day after the Israeli military announced it was withdrawing troops from the area.

Those returning found their hometown, Gaza’s second largest city, unrecognizable, with thousands of buildings destroyed or damaged. Men, women and children went down streets bulldozed into stretches of dirt, searching for their homes among fields of rubble and debris that were once blocks of apartments and businesses. On other blocks, buildings still stood but were gutted shells, scorched and full of holes, with partially shattered upper floors dangling off precipitously.

The scenes of destruction in Khan Younis underscored what has been one of world’s most destructive and lethal military assaults in recent decades, which has left vast swaths of the tiny coastal territory unlivable for its 2.3 million people. It also portended what is likely to happen in Gaza’s southernmost town of Rafah, where half of Gaza’s uprooted population is now crowded, if Israel goes ahead with plans to invade it.

More footage:

⚡️Streets of Khan Yunis pic.twitter.com/rYOBiFjbDw
— War Monitor (@WarMonitors) April 8, 2024

The Palestinian Red Crescent Hospital in Khan Younis suffered extensive destruction caused by Israeli occupation forces, with tens of ambulances deliberately damaged and bulldozed to prevent Palestinians from using them during the ongoing war. pic.twitter.com/cnZH61BfMf
— Quds News Network (@QudsNen) April 8, 2024

Genocidal Zionist troops destroyed 23 ambulances before retreating from Khan Yunis.#GazaHolocaust pic.twitter.com/UkQYGOw5MC
— Seyed Mohammad Marandi (@s_m_marandi) April 8, 2024

Some of the residents of Greater Absan in eastern #Khan_Yunis packed their bags and returned to their homes (some returned from #Rafah) following the departure of #IDF forces from the area. pic.twitter.com/RT5JG6DyQJ
— AbuAliEnglish (@AbuAliEnglishB1) April 8, 2024

There's speculation that Israel's withdrawal from Khan Younis may mean they're winding down the war but Israel is insisting they're just regrouping for an attack on Rafah.

Israel has so far failed in their stated goal of eliminating Hamas but they've made significant progress on their secret leaked plan to ethnically cleanse Gaza and push the refugees onto Europe, Canada and Egypt.

In late March, Israel admitted to the UK Telegraph that it "may not be able to destroy Hamas" and revealed they plan to blame America for their own failures.

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