Fighting in Khan Younis has displaced more than 180,000 people in four days, according to the UN

Some 182,000 Palestinians have been forced to leave central and eastern Khan Younis since July 22, the UN said in a statement released Friday, July 26. “The intensification of hostilities” feeds “new waves of internal displacement across Gaza”according to the UN Office for Humanitarian Affairs, adding that “Hundreds of others remained stranded in eastern Khan Younis”.

For its part, the Israeli army claimed to have “eliminated about 100 terrorists” in Khan Younis since announcing an operation four days ago. On Thursday, the IDF said it had recovered from the city the bodies of five Israelis, including two soldiers and two reservists, killed in the Hamas attack on October 7 in Israel and taken to the Gaza Strip.

Israeli army chief Gen. Herzi Halevi said the bodies of the captives were extracted from underground tunnels and walls in “a hidden place”. Witnesses and rescuers told AFP that heavy fighting continued Friday in eastern Khan Younis.