Israel Hamas civil defense: 42 bodies found in Chan Junis

Following the withdrawal of Israeli troops from the area of Chan Junis in the southern Gaza Strip, dozens of bodies have been recovered there, according to Palestinian reports.

A spokesman for the civil defense, which is controlled by the Islamist Hamas, said that 42 bodies had been found in Bani Suhaila in the east of Chan Junis. Around 200 others are still missing there.

The Israeli army previously announced that it had withdrawn from the area just over a week after the start of the new military operation in Khan Yunis. Within a week, the soldiers had "eliminated more than 150 terrorists, destroyed terror tunnels, weapons caches and terror infrastructure and found weapons".

The offensive began a week ago after, according to Israel, Islamist Hamas fighters had reorganized in the city. The operation was also aimed at recovering the bodies of five Israeli hostages. Thousands of civilians once again fled the city.

In the past, the Israeli military had been active against Hamas combat units in Khan Yunis on several occasions and over longer periods of time, but had subsequently withdrawn to fixed positions outside the city.

The army also announced that the air force had killed a Hamas member who had been responsible for anti-tank missiles in the Hamas battalion in Nuseirat in the central part of the Gaza Strip. He was behind numerous attacks on Israeli troops and had been a "central source of knowledge about anti-tank missiles" for Hamas.

According to the health authority in the Gaza Strip, which is controlled by the Islamist Hamas, more than 39,000 people have been killed and more than 90,000 injured in the coastal strip since the war began on October 7. The Gaza war was triggered by the unprecedented massacre of more than 1,200 people killed by terrorists from Hamas and other groups in Israel.

SDA