By Mohammed Majed
GAZA CITY, Palestine (AA) – The Israeli army withdrew on Saturday from areas north of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, leaving behind mutilated bodies and widespread destruction.
The devastation was particularly severe in the “Hamad residential city” area, where Israeli warplanes destroyed dozens of apartments and leveled entire towers, eyewitnesses told Anadolu.
They reported that dozens of residential buildings were reduced to rubble in the northern areas of Khan Younis, alongside the bulldozing of citizens' lands and properties.
The witnesses also noted that civil defense teams, health workers, and the International Red Cross are searching for missing people in the areas where the Israeli army advanced and carried out attacks.
Several bodies and dismembered remains were recovered from the northern part of Khan Younis and transported to Nasser Hospital in the city, they added.
The military's incursion into northern Khan Younis has forcibly displaced thousands of Palestinians from their homes, pushing them to seek refuge in the western and central regions of the Palestinian enclave.
Over the past few days, Israeli forces had advanced into northern Khan Younis but withdrew on Saturday, repositioning themselves in the eastern parts of the city.
Earlier, the Gaza Civil Defense reported that its teams had recovered the bodies of 49 Palestinians who were killed by Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip since early Saturday and over the past two days.
Israel has continued its brutal offensive on the Gaza Strip following an attack by the Palestinian group Hamas last Oct. 7, despite a UN Security Council resolution calling for an immediate cease-fire.
The onslaught has resulted in over 40,300 Palestinian deaths, mostly women and children, and over 93,000 injuries, according to local health authorities.
An ongoing blockade of Gaza has led to severe shortages of food, clean water and medicine, leaving much of the region in ruins.
Israel faces accusations of genocide at the International Court of Justice, which has ordered a halt to military operations in the southern city of Rafah, where over one million Palestinians had sought refuge before the area was invaded on May 6.
*Writing by Rania Abu Shamala