Palestinians today find their home city unrecognizable as they try to salvage what they can from the massive destruction left behind by Israeli forces, who withdrew from Khan Yunis on Sunday after months of fighting and shelling. did.
With more than 55% of buildings destroyed or damaged, families tried to find their homes along streets that had been bulldozed to the ground, surrounded by a landscape of rubble and rubble that once housed apartments and businesses. .
In other blocks, buildings were still standing, but their shells were falling away, their upper floors sagging suddenly, charred and riddled with holes and partially shattered.
Magdy Abu Saloul was shocked to see his home in Khan Younis destroyed.
“I couldn't find my home because of all the destruction. Where am I? Where is my home?” he said. …It's a tragic situation. ”
“Where will you sleep? Where will you go?” Heba Sahrul's mother sobbed as she sat amidst the rubble of her family's living room.
The girls looked around to see if there was anything they could take with them.
The walls of the room were blown out, and the floor was piled with chunks of concrete, ceiling boards, and broken countertops.
The pink-painted pillars are the only signs that this was once their home.
Tharoor said Israeli forces ordered them to retreat during the fighting.
“We left all our stuff here and went out with just our clothes on,” she said. Her father was killed earlier in the attack, leaving behind her, Tharoor, her sisters and mother.
“There are only six women in the house, so we don't know where to go or where to stay,” she says.
Another woman climbed a collapsed concrete slab atop a pile of debris from her home. “There are no words to describe the pain in my heart,” the woman said.
“Our memories, our dreams, our childhood here, our family, we grew up here together… everything is gone.”
But Ibrahim al-Najjar remains attached to his demolished home.
“My home is better than the whole world, even if I have to sit on the dust left behind,” he said. “I lived here, I will die here.”