THOUSANDS returned to their homes in the blitzed Gaza city of Khan Younis yesterday — only to find them reduced to rubble.
Palestinians headed back hoping they could pick up their lives after Israeli troops pulled out.
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Instead, as they arrived on foot or on trailers pulled by tractors, they discovered the full extent of the devastation from weeks of intense fighting that has raged in Gaza’s second biggest city.
Apartment blocks were reduced to piles of rubble, leaving many with no option but to salvage what they could and return to where they had come from. For many, that will be to a tent.
Mahmoud Abdel-Ghani, who fled in December, said: “Many areas have become unfit for life.
“My and my neighbours’ houses had become rubble.” Dad-of-two Bassel Abu Nasser, 37, added: “There’s no sense of life.”
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The city has been the scene of fierce fighting since December as Israel Defence Forces hunted Hamas terrorists in a 100-mile network of tunnels underground.
Khan Younis is the home city of Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar — dubbed Gaza’s Bin Laden — and Israel has been desperate to capture or kill him. But yesterday he remained at large as all but one Israeli brigades left.
Palestinian medics said 42 bodies were recovered from rubble. There are no aid agencies working there.
Military chiefs stressed the withdrawal was a tactical move to prepare for an all-out assault on the border city of Rafah, said to be Hamas’s final stronghold but where 1.4 million Gazans are sheltering.
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Last night, Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu said a date was set for the push.
It came as Cairo peace talks stalled. A Hamas official said: “There’s no progress.”
Meanwhile, Downing Street denied claims of a Cabinet split on Gaza.
Deputy PM Oliver Dowden had defended Britain’s refusal to suspend arms sales to Israel. But Foreign Secretary Lord Cameron said support for Israel was “not unconditional”.
Rishi Sunak’s spokesman said: “We continue to support Israel’s right to self-defence.”
It comes ahead of Lord Cameron’s visit to Washington today. He is not expected to announce that Britain will suspend arms sales.
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POPE KIDNAP VISIT
By Adela Whittingham
THE Pope yesterday met the relatives of some of the hostages captured in Israel.
Pope Francis spoke to five families six months and a day after the October 7 attacks on their country.
Visitors to the Vatican’s Apostolic Palace included Bezalel Shnaider, the uncle of Shiri Bibas, who was taken with her sons Ariel, four, and nine-month-old Kffir.
Also at the palace was Gal Dalal, who survived the attack on the Supernova Festival while her brother Guy, 22, was kidnapped.
According to Israel, 253 Israelis and foreigners were taken and about 130 hostages remain unaccounted for — with at least 34 of these presumed dead.
It is the second time the Pope — who has called for a ceasefire in Gaza — has met with hostages’ relatives.
Source: Sun
