Gazans return to devastation in Khan Younis
By Sebastian Usher
The devastated landscape of their city feels unreal to the thousands of Palestinians who have been returning to Khan Younis in Gaza.
Through the rubble of the streets, they have been filing back on bicycles, donkey carts and by foot, looking for their homes or what trace is left of them.
“I am going to my house, even though I know that it is destroyed. I am going to remove the rubble to get a shirt out,” Mohammed Abou Diab said.
Israel’s military pulled troops out of southern Gaza, leaving just one brigade in the area.
The smell of death is in the air, residents say, with bodies still lying beneath the ruins. The scale of the devastation has shocked them.
“The destruction is huge. It all needs to be rebuilt. It’s not suitable for human beings to live in – not even for animals”, Abu Saif Abu Mustafa told the BBC.
“It’s as if an earthquake hit the city,” Rashad Khamis al-Najjar from the wider Khan Younis region said as he surveyed the scene.
“The houses are not liveable, the mosques are not suitable for worship, and the roads and the infrastructure, even the electricity, have all been completely destroyed.”
