Scorched earth: War-torn Gazans return to their destroyed homes in Khan Younis after Israel’s decision to reduce activities in the Gaza Strip – but Netanyahu warns more is to come

Traumatized Palestinians are left picking up the pieces of their homes after Benjamin Netanyahu withdrew a majority of IDF forces from southern Gaza but promised they would return to invade Rafah, the last refuge for 1.4 million displaced Gazans .

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday that a date has been set for an Israeli invasion of Rafah, without revealing the date as a new round of ceasefire takes place in Cairo.

‘Today I received a detailed report on the Cairo talks. “We are continuously working to achieve our goals, primarily the release of all our hostages and achieving a complete victory over Hamas,” Netanyahu said.

“This victory requires access to Rafah and the elimination of the terrorist battalions there. It will happen, there is a date.’

An estimated 55% of buildings in the Khan Younis area, about 45,000 buildings, have been destroyed or damaged, according to two mapping experts who used satellite images to track the destruction.

‘Where do I sleep? Where am I going?’ Heba Sahloul’s elderly mother sobbed desperately as she sat among the rubble of the family’s living room.

Her daughters looked for anything they could take with them. The walls of the room blew away and the floor was littered with chunks of concrete, ceiling tiles and broken countertops.

Sahloul said Israeli forces ordered them to leave during the fighting. “We left all our stuff here and walked out with just our clothes,” she said. Her father was killed earlier in the attack, leaving Sahloul, her sisters and her mother behind. “There are only six women at home and we don’t know where to go,” Sahloul said.

A woman, who identified herself to the Associated Press as Hanan, clambered over collapsed concrete slabs atop a pile of the wreckage from her home. Her son crawled on his hands and knees into a hole beneath the rubble and twisted rebar, clearing away concrete blocks.

“There are no words to describe the pain inside me,” the woman said, her voice breaking. “Our memories, our dreams, our childhood here, our family – it’s all gone.”

Netanyahu’s shock announcement came hours after reports suggested that Hamas and Israel were just two days away from agreeing a ceasefire and hostage deal that would have at least temporarily ended the Middle East’s bloodiest war. East in decades.

Hamas and Israel sent negotiators to Cairo, Egypt, where they were joined by mediators from the United States, Egypt and Qatar.

Egypt’s state news channel Al-Qahera reported that “significant progress has been made on several controversial areas of agreement,” citing an unnamed senior Egyptian source.

The delegation said the Qatar and Hamas delegations had left Cairo and were expected to “return within two days to finalize the terms of the agreement.”

US and Israeli delegations would also leave the Egyptian capital “in the coming hours” for consultations over the next 48 hours, it added.

But negotiations have been shaky throughout the six-month war in Gaza, with both Hamas and Israel repeatedly withdrawing from the talks over differences.

Israel’s allies, including the US and Britain, have voiced their opposition to Israeli plans to invade Rafah, home to 1.4 million civilians seeking refugees from the bloody war against the enclave.

Foreign Secretary Lord David Cameron previously wrote about

“The priority must be an immediate pause in the fighting to get aid in and hostages out, and then make progress toward a lasting, permanent ceasefire.”

Israel’s main ally, the US, has said invading Rafah would be a mistake and has demanded a credible plan to protect civilians.

Israel is buying 40,000 tents in preparation for the Rafah evacuation, an Israeli official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

Netanyahu’s announcement came as streams of Palestinians poured into the southern Gaza town of Khan Younis on Monday to salvage what they could from the massive destruction left in the aftermath of Israel’s offensive, a day after the Israeli army announced it was would withdraw troops from the area.

Allowing people to return to Khan Younis could ease pressure on Rafah, but many have no home to return to. The city is also likely filled with dangerous, unexploded ordnance left behind by the fighting.

The Israeli army quietly withdrew troops from the devastated northern Gaza earlier in the war.

But the country has continued to carry out airstrikes and attacks in areas where Hamas says it has regrouped, including Gaza’s largest hospital, Shifa, leaving what the head of the World Health Organization called “an empty shell.”

Israel blames Hamas for the damage and says it is fighting from civilian areas.