Seeing her home destroyed, Umm Eyad Al-Najjar said her family will set up tents to live in. The rubble in front of Umm Eyad used to be a comfortable home where she lived with her husband and children.
A Palestinian family returns to Khan Younis after Israeli forces withdrew from the city. Photo: Reuters
"How can we endure this? There is no water or anything in the tent. I can't eat like before. We are surrounded by strangers, no relatives to talk to... Everything is destroyed," Umm Eyad choked.
She said many members of her family had died and their bodies had not been found. She added that every house had someone dead or injured.
For now, Umm Eyad plans to stay in her destroyed home as fighting continues to ravage the area. Her husband Ibrahim Al-Najjar says he will spend his life in Gaza, a poor but once vibrant place with restaurants, hospitals and schools.
Most of those facilities were destroyed, forcing families to live in schools or tents. Finding food is a daily struggle.
“We used to raise cattle. But the whole farm with 250 cattle that we would slaughter to sell or eat, all gone,” Ibrahim shared.
He said he was still attached to his home no matter how it was destroyed. "My home is better than the world , even if I have to sit on the remaining ashes. I lived here, I will die here."
Gaza authorities say more than 60 bodies have been found in Khan Younis since Israeli forces left after months of operations.
Not only Khan Younis, but much of Gaza has been reduced to rubble. Residential areas have been turned into wastelands, and many Palestinians are stuck trying to rebuild their homes.
The Israel-Hamas conflict has dragged on for six months now with no sign of a ceasefire, fueling a humanitarian crisis that has left large swathes of the population on the brink of famine.
The southern Gaza city of Khan Younis has been under Israeli bombardment in recent months. Israel said on April 7 it had withdrawn more troops from southern Gaza, leaving just one brigade.
Israel has reduced the number of troops in Gaza since the beginning of this year, under increasing pressure from its ally the United States and the international community to improve the humanitarian situation, especially after the recent "wrongful killing" of seven aid workers from the charity World Central Kitchen.
Hoai Phuong (according to Reuters)
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