DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — Stunned Palestinians found their home city unrecognizable Monday as they filtered in to salvage what they could from the vast destruction left by Israeli troops who withdrew from southern Gaza's Khan Younis a day earlier after months of fighting and bombardment.
With thousands of buildings destroyed or damaged, families tried to find their homes along streets bulldozed down to the dirt, surrounded by landscapes of rubble and debris that were once blocks of apartments and businesses.
The scenes in Khan Younis underscored what has been one of world's most destructive and lethal military assaults in recent decades, leaving most of the tiny coastal territory unlivable for its 2.3 million people. It also portended what is likely to happen in Gaza's southernmost town of Rafah, where half of Gaza's uprooted population is now crowded, if Israel goes ahead with plans to invade it.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu escalated his pledge to take the offensive to Rafah, declaring in a video statement Monday, "It will happen. There is a date," without elaborating. He spoke as Israeli negotiators were in Cairo discussing international efforts to broker a cease-fire deal with Hamas.
Israel sent troops into Khan Younis in December, part of its blistering ground offensive that came in response to Hamas militants' Oct. 7 attack and hostage-taking in southern Israel. Its withdrawal brought Israeli troops in the tiny coastal enclave to one of the lowest since the war began.
The war, now in its seventh month, has killed more than 33,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to local health authorities. Israeli authorities say 1,200 people, mostly civilians, were killed and roughly 250 people taken hostage in Hamas' Oct. 7 attack.
Many of the thousands who came to Khan Younis by foot and on donkey carts Monday were sheltering in Rafah. The withdrawal gave them a chance to see the wreckage of their homes and retrieve a few possessions. But with the city now unlivable, they said they had little immediate chance to return.
An estimated 55% of the buildings in the Khan Younis area — about 45,000 buildings — are destroyed or damaged, according to the latest figures from two researchers in the U.S. who used satellite imagery to track destruction throughout the war — Corey Scher of City University of New York and Jamon Van Den Hoek of Oregon State University.
One woman clambered over slabs of collapsed concrete atop a mountain of wreckage of her home. Her son crawled on all fours into a hollow under the rubble and twisted rebar, clearing away concrete blocks.
"There are no words to describe the pain inside me," the woman said, her voice breaking. "Our memories, our dreams, our childhood here, our family — we were raised with them here … It's all gone."
The woman, who identified herself only by her first name, Hanan, put a few items they found into a backpack, including a plastic red flower.
Khan Younis' main Nasser Hospital was trashed inside, with debris strewn around the wards and ceiling panels collapsed. The exterior appeared largely intact, but the extent of the damage was not immediately clear. Israeli troops stormed the facility during the offensive, claiming they believed the remains of hostages were inside, though they did not report finding any.
Israel said Khan Younis was a major Hamas stronghold and that its operations there killed thousands of militants and inflicted heavy damage to a vast network of tunnels used by Hamas to move weapons and fighters. It also claimed to have found evidence that hostages were held in the city.
Israel plans to invade Rafah, which it says is Hamas' last major stronghold, have raised international alarm over the fate of about 1.4 million Palestinians sheltering there, most displaced from other parts of the Gaza Strip.
Israel's top ally, the U.S., says invading Rafah would be a mistake and demanded to see a credible plan to protect civilians.
Israel is purchasing 40,000 tents to prepare for the evacuation of Rafah, an Israel official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. It was not clear where they would be set up and how many people they could house.
Allowing people to return to Khan Younis could relieve some pressure on Rafah, but many have no homes to return to. The city also is likely filled with dangerous unexploded ordnance left by the fighting.
Negotiations mediated by Qatar, Egypt and the U.S. over a cease-fire and exchange of captives continue. But Israel and Hamas appear to remain far apart.
In a statement Monday, Hamas said the latest response it received from Israel does not include a permanent crease-fire or the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza. It has repeatedly said both terms are not negotiable, while Israel firmly rejects them.
Meanwhile, Nicaragua called on the United Nations' top court on Monday to halt German military aid to Israel, arguing that Berlin’s support enables acts of genocide and breaches of international humanitarian law in Gaza.
The case at the International Court of Justice is against Germany, which is the second-largest supplier of arms to Israel after the U.S., but it also indirectly takes aim at Israel’s 6-month-old military campaign.
Also Monday, the U.N. Security Council revived the Palestinian Authority's hopes of joining the United Nations as a full member. But the United States said relations between Israel and the Palestinians are far from ripe. That all but quashes the Palestinian Authority's U.N. membership hopes for now.
The U.S. is one of five permanent members who can veto any council action.
The Palestinian Authority administers parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Its forces were driven from Gaza when Hamas seized power in 2007, and it has no power there.
“The issue of full Palestinian membership is a decision that should be negotiated between Israel and the Palestinians,” U.S. deputy ambassador Robert Wood told reporters Monday.
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