‘Even the streets are no longer there’: Palestinians return to southern Gaza city to find streets and homes in ruins

The city of Khan Younis is now unrecognisable after airstrikes, with 12,710 buildings destroyed

Palestinians walk through the destruction in the wake of an Israeli air and ground offensive in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip. Israel says it has withdrawn its last ground troops from the city. Photo: Fatima Shbair

Miriam Berger
© Washington Post

After Israel pulled back its forces from Khan Younis, the largest city in southern Gaza, at the weekend, civilians began to return. But following four months of war, the place they found was not the one they left.

“I couldn’t recognise the place,” a Palestinian humanitarian worker, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak with reporters, said in a phone interview. “Even the streets are no longer there.”