Israel claims to end onslaught in Khan Younis, Deir al-Balah
Internally displaced Palestinians inspect their home after a ground military operation by Israeli forces, in Khan Younis camp, southern Gaza Strip, Aug. 30, 2024. (EPA Photo)


The Israeli military said its violent so-called military operation in Khan Younis and Deir al-Balah, which included attacks on hospitals, tents and a U.N. vehicle, ended on Friday.

Residents of some neighborhoods in southern Gaza, who had previously been asked to flee with nowhere safe to take refuge in, were allowed to return, according to an army spokesman.

The neighborhoods are now once again part of an area designated as a humanitarian safe zone. Some of those who have returned to Khan Younis have begun to search for missing relatives, the military said.

According to Gaza's health authority, more than 40,000 Palestinian people, mostly women and children, have been killed and more than 98,000 injured in Gaza during 10 months of war.

In the past month, Israel continued to kill civilians, including children, in the Khan Younis and Deir al-Balah regions, issued several evacuation orders across Gaza, the most since the beginning of the 10-month war, prompting an outcry from Palestinians, the United Nations, and relief officials over the reduction of humanitarian zones and the absence of safe areas.

On Monday, scores of reporters, including TRT Arabic crew, were injured after an Israeli strike targeted the tent of journalists as it hit Al-Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis in the Gaza Strip on Monday.

TRT Arabi cameraman Mohammad al-Zeineen sustained an eye injury from a piece of shrapnel after the Israeli army targeted a car beside a tent for journalists near Nasser Hospital in the city of Khan Younis. Another TRT journalist was also injured in the attack.

Besides the violent attacks on civilians, the ongoing Israeli blockade of Gaza has led to severe shortages of food, clean water and medicine, leaving much of the region in ruins.

Israel also 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.