ISTANBUL

Destruction prevails "everywhere" in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) said on Monday.

“Driving through Khan Younis today, any remaining buildings are hanging by a thread. Huge craters along rubble filled roads, little hope for those remaining here,” UNRWA Communication Office Louise Wateridge said in a statement.

Wateridge published a two-minute video documenting massive destruction in the city.

“Everywhere you look, destruction," she said.

Last week, the Israeli army ordered Palestinians living in eastern Khan Younis to vacate their areas and head to al-Mawasi west of the city.

The UN estimates that around 250,000 Palestinians have fled their homes in eastern Khan Younis.

Israel, flouting a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire, has faced international condemnation amid its continued brutal offensive on Gaza since an Oct. 7, 2023 attack by the Palestinian group Hamas.

Nearly 38,200 Palestinians have since been killed, mostly women and children, and over 87,900 others injured, according to local health authorities.

Nine months into the Israeli war, vast tracts of Gaza lie in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water and medicine.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, whose latest ruling ordered it to immediately halt its military operation in the southern city of Rafah, where over a million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6.

*Writing by Ahmed Asmar