Residents of Khan Yunis return to their destroyed homes after the Israeli withdrawal

Khan Yunis, Gaza
CNN
—

Palestinians who were forced by the Israeli military attack to leave their homes in Khan Yunis, began returning in small numbers to the southern city of Gaza after the withdrawal of Israeli forces from there. Israeli forceswith many arriving to find their former neighborhoods looking like a wasteland.

Video footage filmed by a CNN reporter shows dozens of returning residents surveying the ruins of the city, some standing on top of destroyed buildings, examining piles of rubble that were once homes.

The Israeli military said on Sunday it had withdrawn its ground forces from Khan Yunis after months of intense fighting in what it described as a major Hamas stronghold. Much of the city, once home to hundreds of thousands of people, has been bulldozed, and video shows house structures completely torn apart along with roads littered with rubble and debris.

The film shows the returning residents recovering the few things they can salvage; Mattresses, carpets, kitchen utensils, and wooden blocks. Some children carry sofas and chairs on their backs.

“This is what happened in Gaza,” says a man riding his motorcycle through the rubble.

Other former residents traveled there on foot, some on bicycles, some in pickup trucks, and some on donkeys.

Sitting on a dusty rug with her back resting on a large pillow, 12-year-old Aseel points to a pile of rubble in front of her where she says her home used to be.

“It was there, it was destroyed,” she says.

“Our house is gone. We managed to grab some pieces of furniture [but] We were only able to recover small items from our home. “I wish I could have my clothes.”

Another young Palestinian woman, Tamar, carries pieces of wood.

“I will go sell them for 10 to 20 shekels, so that I never have to reach out and beg people for money,” he explains.

Tamar says he didn't recognize his home when he first returned. “If it weren't for my neighbors, I wouldn't know it was my home,” he says. “Destruction is everywhere.”

The vast majority of buildings in the footage, including homes, offices and mosques, were severely damaged and many were completely flattened.

The European Hospital in Gaza said on Monday that the bodies of 46 Palestinians had been recovered after the Israeli withdrawal from Khan Yunis, most of whom were “found dead under the rubble of demolished buildings.”

Those buildings still standing are covered in soot and riddled with bullet holes and artillery damage.

Piles of empty bullet shells and the remains of at least one mortar shell were scattered on the ground.

“My house was completely destroyed. It was three floors, and now it is one with the ground. I have no memories left. Just like everyone here. They destroyed the area in a barbaric and deliberate way,” says Saad, a former resident.

Mahmoud Ahmed, an elderly man, stands inside his destroyed house, which has been reduced to a mere skeleton. He points out areas that used to be rooms, and tells what was where and what was lost.

“That was my washing machine, the Israelis burned it. I had a nice little sitting area here, it's all gone. That was my refrigerator, look, the door was removed. This was the kitchen. There's nothing left there.”

Through the footage in Khan Yunis, Israeli drones can be heard flying overhead, as well as the sounds of gunshots from time to time.

On the walls of what appears to be a telecommunications company office, a Star of David and anti-Arab profanities are scrawled in English.

“Gaza is for the Jews,” reads a phrase in Arabic on a wall inside a torn-down building.

Before the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel, Khan Yunis – the second largest city in Gaza – was home to more than 400,000 people, according to the Gaza Ministry of Interior.

In the early days of the war, the city was a refuge for thousands of Palestinian civilians fleeing Israeli military operations in northern Gaza.

But when the Israeli forces began their attack on Khan Yunis Early DecemberThose living there were forced to seek refuge in the south.

More than a million Palestinians now live in miserable humanitarian conditions in the southern city of Rafah, where Israel is also located. Planning an attack.

Even for those who are now able to return to Khan Yunis, there is little consolation.

Among those interviewed in the CNN footage was Abdel Karim, a young Palestinian man sitting next to his destroyed school.

He says that while he was in Rafah, he spent his time reading and writing because he knew he would not be able to return to school.

“How will we learn now?” Asked. “There is no life anymore. Our childhood is gone. They have destroyed us.”