Israel's military has withdrawn from eastern Khan Younis following a nearly month-long major ground operation, which has left central parts of the southern Gazan city utterly destroyed.
On Friday, Gaza health authorities have recovered at least nine bodies in the rubble, following many civilian and militant deaths over the course of the IDF's 22-day operation. Israel's army has said the operations focused on Khan Younis and Deir al-Balah has killed over 250 militants over the past month.
The IDF has issued official statements in Arabic telling Khan Younis residents that they may return to their homes and (mostly destroyed) neighborhoods, if they still have homes to return to.
The army has been cited as describing that "Tunnel routes used by the Palestinian militant group Hamas with a total length of more than 6 kilometres were destroyed during the operation and the bodies of six hostages recovered."
These deceased hostage recoveries took place earlier this month, and the circumstances of their deaths are still under investigation.
An Al Jazeera correspondent currently based in central Gaza says that the IDF's announcement of the end of Khan Younis operations and the ability of civilians to return is misleading and is a ruse.
"The [latest] Israeli evacuation orders are perceived as misleading and contradictory," Hani Mahmoud has warned. "They are very similar to orders in which people were told to evacuate to area that were supposed to be safe but they ended up being killed in those areas."
The Al-Jazeera correspondent continues, "This is what we’re seeing right now with the withdrawal [of Israeli troops] from some of the areas in the eastern part of Deir el-Balah City and from the eastern part of Khan Younis."
Meanwhile a 'polio pause' in fighting is still expected to begin in central Gaza on Sunday...
But despite the hopes that limited pauses in fighting could allow some 2,000 UN health workers to begin vaccinating hundreds of thousands of Palestinian children could eventually lead to a more permanent ceasefire, all signs point to an IDF expansion in operations.
Israeli newspaper Haaretz and Israeli Army Radio have just reported that the Israeli government is expending an order for the recruitment of 350,000 reservists. This order is in effect through the end of 2024.
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