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The withdrawal of Israeli floor troops from southern Gaza over the weekend allowed some Palestinians to return to the city of Khan Yunis and examine their houses. However after months of fierce combating and Israeli bombardment, some discovered solely destruction.
“Once I noticed the scene I couldn't deal with it,” mentioned Dr. Ahmed al-Farra, who went again on Sunday to seek out his household's three-story villa decreased to a pile of particles, with few folks left. Was surrounded by timber. Standing there in what was as soon as a lush inexperienced backyard.
“I fully collapsed and nearly handed out,” he mentioned in a cellphone name on Monday. He mentioned that when his spouse and two teenage daughters noticed what was left of their residence, they burst into tears.
“I labored for 20 years to construct this home,” mentioned Dr. al-Fara, 54, who ran the pediatric ward at Nasser Hospital earlier than the household fled to Rafah within the south in January. “You construct a home nook by nook, stone by stone.”
“And eventually,” he added, “with the push of a button it turns into particles.”
The remainder of Khan Younis was “unrecognizable”, Dr Al-Fara mentioned. Most buildings and homes have been fully demolished, partially destroyed or burned, and the streets have been bulldozed. He mentioned, “Khan Yunus was destroyed in World Conflict II or worse.”
Dr al-Farra mentioned “many individuals” had returned to Khan Younis on Sunday. They quickly realized that it was not doable to remain at their residence. However like many different Gazans in search of refuge in Rafah, he mentioned he plans to quickly transfer his household's tent to someplace in Khan Yunis. He and others worry Israel's pledge to ship floor troops into Rafah to pursue Hamas leaders and fighters, an invasion that many imagine will comply with this week after the tip of the holy month of Ramadan. can be.
“The desires of the complete household have been dashed,” Dr. Al-Farra mentioned. “The place will we go now? “Will we spend the remainder of our lives residing in tents?”
Nima Abu Azzoum, 45, mentioned her household deliberate to return from Rafah to Khan Yunis this week — a journey of about six miles that persons are making on foot, donkey carts or, in uncommon circumstances, by automotive. However he mentioned the long-awaited homecoming wouldn’t be the one he had dreamed of since evacuating Rafah initially of the battle.
His nephew visited Khan Younis on Monday to organize the household's houses for his return. However as an alternative, she mentioned, they discovered houses destroyed and the physique of her 21-year-old brother, Nader, buried underneath particles. He had refused to go along with them to Rafah.
“Now I don’t have a house – it’s gone,” Ms. Abu Azzoum mentioned in a cellphone name on Monday. “And there's nothing left in our neighborhood.”
Akram al-Satri, 47, who got here from Rafah to test his residence on Monday, mentioned only a few homes in Khan Yunis have been nonetheless intact. Shifting across the metropolis was “extraordinarily difficult” as a result of the roads have been bulldozed and there was particles all over the place, he mentioned in a cellphone name.
Mr al-Satri mentioned some folks have been capable of pull out the stays of their family members from collapsed homes, however may solely establish them by their garments as a result of their our bodies had decomposed.