GAZA STRIP: The Israeli military claimed to have “eliminated 150 terrorists,” but the civil defense service in Gaza reported on Tuesday that since the operation started last week, around 300 people have died in and around Khan Yunis, the territory’s second city.
According to agency spokesman Mahmud Bassal, “since the start of the Israeli ground invasion of the eastern part of Khan Yunis province, the civil defense and medical teams have recovered approximately 300 bodies of martyrs, many of them decomposed.”
The Israeli military began the attack on July 22 in an effort to stop what it said as rocket fire coming from the region, which had already seen intense combat earlier this year.
It was reported last week that five Israeli soldiers’ remains had been removed from the region by troops.
The military said that they had been slain during the October 7 Hamas attacks and that their bodies had been returned to Gaza.
Palestinians start moving back into their devastated homes, while the Bani Suhaila cemetery is bulldozed by Tel Aviv soldiers.
Following the end of Israeli troops’ attack and subsequent evacuation from the region, thousands of Palestinians returned to their damaged or destroyed homes in Khan Yunis.
According to Palestinian health officials, 42 Palestinians slain in Israel’s raid into eastern Khan Yunis have had their remains recovered by rescue workers thus far. 200 persons are still listed as missing, according to Gaza’s Civil Emergency Services, and a search is currently underway.
Following the withdrawal of Israeli soldiers, locals began to return home in droves, walking and pushing donkey carts filled with their possessions. Many discovered damage or destruction to their homes.
According to witnesses, the raid’s primary target, Bani Suhaila, a town on the eastern outskirts of Khan Yunis, had its main cemetery demolished, along with surrounding homes and roads.
“I believe in God, and I will return.” Etimad Al-Masri, who had traveled for at least five kilometers back to her home, remarked, “I don’t know whether we will live or die, but it is all for the sake of the homeland.”
“We are patient, and God willing, we will prevail despite the suffering.” Many locals claimed to have experienced multiple home displacements.
“We’re hoping for tranquility and a ceasefire. Holding some of his possessions over his shoulder as he made his way back home, Walid Abu Nsaira stated, “We hope that they act on a ceasefire so that we can live in security and safety.”
After invading practically the whole Gaza Strip ten months into the war, Israeli soldiers have spent the last few weeks waging fresh attacks on places where they had previously declared they had flushed out Hamas. Thousands of people, the majority of whom have already been relocated multiple times, have received orders to leave their houses.
The months-long efforts to use mediators to broker a truce are once again failing. Israel and Hamas exchanged accusations on the lack of advancement on Monday.
Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, claims that the war in Gaza will end only when Hamas is vanquished, in contrast to Hamas’s demand for a ceasefire accord. Disagreements also exist on the practicalities of implementing a pact.
More than 39,400 Palestinians have been murdered by Israeli forces in the Gaza Strip since the conflict escalated in October 2023, according to health officials, who also report that more over half of the victims were women or children. According to ministry statistics, the toll includes 37 deaths in the previous 24 hours. Israel asserts that just one-third of the Palestinian deaths are caused by fighters, while having lost almost 330 soldiers in Gaza. The Israeli attacks have resulted in more than 90,990 injuries to Palestinians.
