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‘Better than tents’Israel’s 98th commando division withdrew from Khan Yunis on Sunday and left Gaza “in order to recuperate and prepare for future operations,” the army told AFP.After troops left the largely destroyed city, a stream of displaced Palestinians walked there, hoping to return to their homes from temporary shelters in Rafah, a little further south.Maha Thaer, a mother of four returning to Khan Yunis, said she would move back into her badly damaged apartment, “even though it is not suitable for living, but it is better than tents”.The war was sparked by the October 7 attack against Israel by Hamas militants that resulted in the deaths of 1,170 people, mostly civilians, Israeli figures show.Hamas and Islamic Jihad militants also took more than 250 Israeli and foreign hostages, 129 of whom remain in Gaza, including 34 the army says are dead.Thousands gathered on Sunday in front of Israel’s parliament to demand the return of the hostages.”Stay strong, you who are still there,” cried 17-year-old former hostage Agam Goldstein with tears in her eyes.Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed at least 33,175 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory.Vast areas of Gaza have been turned into a rubble-strewn wasteland, with damage to infrastructure, mostly housing, estimated at $18.5 billion, a World Bank report said.Charities have accused Israel of blocking aid, but Israel has defended its efforts and blamed shortages on aid organisations’ inability to distribute assistance once it gets in.”The denial of basic needs — food, fuel, sanitation, shelter, security and health care — is inhumane and intolerable,” World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus wrote on social media platform X.Aid trucks entered Gaza via the Rafah border crossing with Egypt on Sunday, and medical supplies were brought in via Israel’s Erez crossing in the north.
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Gaza truce talks make ‘significant progress’: Egypt state media
