Massive devastation dashes hopes of return for Khan Younis residents in Gaza

People look at destroyed buildings in the southern Gaza Strip city of Khan Younis, April 8, 2024. (Photo by Rizek Abdeljawad/Xinhua)

GAZA, April 9 (Xinhua) -- A state of shock and disbelief gripped the majority of residents of Khan Younis city as soon as they returned to the southern Gaza Strip city and saw the massive destruction there.

On Sunday, the Israeli army declared that its forces withdrew from Khan Younis after ending the mission of eliminating the Al-Qassam Brigades inside the territory.

Mohammed Shurrab, a Khan Younis-based man, was among the tens of thousands of locals who rushed to their areas to inspect the situation there.

But upon arrival, he broke down in tears, "Where are our homes?... Where is our life that was here? When did all this destruction happen? Did a devastating earthquake hit us?"

"I do not have any house now. I lost my last hope of returning home and getting rid of the miserable life in displacement camps," the 42-year-old father of five told Xinhua after several attempts to calm himself down.

"They (Israeli forces) destroyed all our dreams and lives... They want to displace us from our lands at any cost," the grieved man lamented while trying to remove the ruins futilely.

Palestinians return to the southern Gaza Strip city of Khan Younis, April 8, 2024. (Photo by Rizek Abdeljawad/Xinhua)

Shurrab further expressed his fear that he would remain "homeless" throughout his life, the same as what happened with his grandparents during the Nakba (meaning "catastrophe" in Arabic) in 1948.

Not far from Shurrab, Mustafa Barbakh, another Khan Younis resident, stood watching the destroyed buildings in the city's Al Sikka area in a bid to identify his house among the large piles of rubble spreading everywhere.

"Words cannot describe this disaster... No one can believe that this destruction is man-made. It looks as if an earthquake struck our region," the 55-year-old father of nine told Xinhua.

Palestinians return with their belongings to the southern Gaza Strip city of Khan Younis, April 8, 2024. (Photo by Rizek Abdeljawad/Xinhua)

Sabreen Al-Najjar, a Khan Younis-based Palestinian woman, was, along with Civil Defense teams, busy searching for the body of her son, who was killed in an Israeli raid and remained buried under the debris.

"Israeli forces are forcing us to pay the price of the current war, although we do not have any fault," the 47-year-old mother of seven told Xinhua.

"We will not forgive them for what they did to our city, including depriving us of all life necessities... They took us back to the Stone Age," she added.

Al-Najjar, Shurrab, and Barbakh said they can't move back to Khan Younis and will stay in their tents until they find a better solution or someone offers them a place to stay.

A Palestinian walks past destroyed buildings in the southern Gaza Strip city of Khan Younis, April 8, 2024. (Photo by Rizek Abdeljawad/Xinhua)

Palestinian security sources said the Israeli army deliberately destroyed entire residential blocks and all infrastructure in Khan Younis to make it uninhabitable.

The Civil Defense teams reported that they faced significant challenges in navigating the extensively damaged primary and secondary roads to access the demolished structures. Despite these obstacles, they managed to retrieve over 85 bodies from beneath the debris.

Israel has been launching a large-scale war on Gaza since Oct. 7 last year after Hamas carried out a surprise attack on Israeli towns adjacent to the coastal enclave.

Back then, Hamas militants killed about 1,200 people and took more than 200 others to Gaza as hostages, according to Israeli authorities.

The Israeli onslaught in the Strip has so far left more than 33,000 dead and about 76,000 wounded, according to the Ministry of Health in Gaza.