International Desk

The Israeli military said Friday it had wrapped up a month-long operation in southern and central Gaza that it said killed more than 250 Palestinian fighters.

“The troops of the 98th Division have completed their divisional operation in the Khan Yunis and Deir el-Balah area, after about a month of simultaneous above and underground operational activity,” a military statement said.

“As part of the operation, the troops eliminated over 250 terrorists and destroyed dozens of (pieces of) terrorist infrastructure.”

A military spokesman confirmed to AFP that no other operations were taking place in those two areas for now.

Residents of Khan Yunis said they had returned to scenes of widespread destruction in the Gaza Strip’s main southern city.

Amal al-Astal, 48, described demolished homes and bodies decomposing in the open.

“We found our house destroyed and our neighbours’ (houses) destroyed as well. One of our neighbours’ corpses was decomposed there,” Astal said.

“As soon as we entered, there were tragedies and we could not recognise the landmarks of the neighbourhood.”

Palestinians who returned to parts of Deir el-Balah earlier this week said they witnessed similar devastation.

The war in Gaza erupted following Hamas’s 7 October attack which resulted in the deaths of 1,199 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.

Israel’s retaliatory military campaign has killed at least 40,602 people in Gaza, according to the territory’s health ministry. The UN rights office says most of the dead are women and children.