Gazans start returning to Khan Younis after IDF withdraws ground forces

Palestinians begin to return to the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis, hours after the Israel Defense Forces withdrew all of its maneuvering ground forces from the Strip early this morning, leaving just one brigade to secure a corridor splitting the Palestinian enclave.

Nearly 400,000 people lived in Khan Younis and its environs before war in Gaza erupted with Hamas’s October 7 massacre, which saw thousands of terrorists burst across the border into Israel by land, air and sea, killing some 1,200 people and seizing 253 hostages, mostly civilians, many together with horrific acts of brutality and sexual assault.

Much of the area is now in ruins after months of bombardment and heavy fighting between IDF troops and Hamas operatives.

A straggle of men and boys riding donkey carts, bicycles and the odd pickup truck head north, out of Gaza’s southernmost city of Rafah, where more than 1.5 million Palestinians have taken refuge from the fighting.

A Palestinian woman uses a wheelchair to ferry her belongings past damaged buildings in Khan Younis on April 7, 2024. (AFP)

Authorities in Gaza say at least 33,175 Palestinians have been killed and 75,886 wounded since war erupted with Hamas’s October 7 massacre.

Figures issued by the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza cannot be independently verified, and are believed to include both civilians and Hamas members killed in Gaza, including from the terror group’s own rocket misfires.

The IDF says it has killed over 13,000 operatives in Gaza, in addition to some 1,000 terrorists inside Israel on October 7.