Khan Yunis

The Khan Yunis Governorate (Arabic: محافظة خان يونس Muḥāfaẓat Ḫān Yūnis) is one of 16 Governorates of Palestine, located in the southern Gaza Strip. Its district capital is Khan Yunis. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics the governorate had a population of 426,056 in mid-year 2022. Its land area is 69.61% urban, 12.8% rural, and 17.57% comprising the Khan Yunis refugee camp.

Khan Yunis refugee camp (Arabic: مخيم خان يونس), also spelled Khan Younis or Khan Yunus, is a Palestinian refugee camp in the Khan Yunis Governorate just west of the city of Khan Yunis and two kilometers east of the Mediterranean coast in the southern Gaza Strip. While UNRWA states that there were approximately 72,000 Palestinian refugees living in the camp in 2010, the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics recorded a population of 41,182 in the 2017 census.The Khan Yunis refugee camp was established after the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, accommodating roughly 35,000 Palestinian refugees, who fled or were expelled by Zionist militias from their homes. On 3 November 1956, the camp and city of Khan Yunis were occupied by the Israel Defense Forces. In the ensuing operation, about 275 Palestinians were killed by Israeli forces, including 140 refugees from the camp, in what became known as the Khan Yunis massacre. Residents state that most of the casualties occurred after hostilities had ended, with the army searching houses for suspected armed men. However, Israeli authorities stated the casualties were a result of resistance by the camp's residents.According to UNRWA, many of the camp's residents have lost their homes as a result of operations by the Israeli military. UNRWA began reconstruction efforts in the early 2000s, but work has largely been halted due to the blockade imposed by Israel on the Gaza Strip following the Hamas takeover of the territory. UNRWA say that at least 10,000 homes need to be constructed.

During the Israel–Hamas war, the Nasser Hospital faced multiple attacks, including a siege and raid in January and February 2024. The hospital siege by Israeli forces created severe shortages of food, anesthesia, and painkillers. Reports emerged of Israeli snipers targeting individuals outside the hospital. Despite international calls for restraint, the IDF ordered the evacuation of displaced people inside the hospital on 13 February 2024. On 15 February, Israeli soldiers raided the hospital.

The Nasser Hospital (or Nasser Medical Complex) was one of the final active hospitals in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip, and was one of the last functioning hospitals in Gaza. As of 18 February 2024, the hospital is no longer functional.

Bani Suheila (Arabic: بني سهيلا) is a municipality in the Gaza Strip, in the Khan Yunis Governorate of the State of Palestine. The town is located 2 km (1.2 mi) east of the city of Khan Younis. As of 2017, Bani Suheila had a population of 41,439 people.

Gush Katif Airport (ICAO: LLAZ) was a small airfield in the Gaza Strip approximately three kilometres (2 mi) north of the town of Khan Yunis, and adjacent to the UNRWA Khan Yunis refugee camp. It was located immediately west of the former Israeli settlement of Ganei Tal, and named after the former Israeli settlement area of Gush Katif. Following the destruction of the Yasser Arafat International Airport, it was briefly the only usable runway in the Gaza Strip before it was abandoned in 2004 and overbuilt by 2015.

Gadid (Hebrew: גָּדִיד) was an Israeli settlement and Moshav located in the middle of the Gush Katif settlement bloc whose residents were expelled in Israel's disengagement of 2005. The origin of the name Gadid comes from the term used in the bible to describe the harvest of dates in the area.

Qizan an-Najjar (Arabic: قيزان النَجّار, also spelled Qizan al-Najar) is a Palestinian village in the southern Gaza Strip, part of the Khan Yunis Governorate. It is located along the Salah al-Din Road between Khan Yunis and Rafah. In the 1997 census by the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) Qizan an-Najjar had a population of 2,733. Its population rose to 3,889 in the 2006 estimate by the PCBS.

Ganei Tal (Hebrew: גַּנֵּי טַל, lit. 'Gardens of Dew') was an Israeli settlement in the south of the Gaza Strip, located in the Gush Katif settlement bloc. It was under the jurisdiction of Hof Aza Regional Council.

The Hof Aza Regional Council (Hebrew: מועצה אזורית חוף עזה, "Gaza Coast Regional Council") was a regional council of Israel until 2005 when its residents were evicted from their homes and the area was liquidated as part of Israel's unilateral disengagement plan. The seat was in Neve Dekalim. The public buildings of the regional council and adjacent strip mall in Neve Dekalim were not destroyed and the Palestinian Al-Aqsa University opened a campus on the site shortly after the Israeli evacuation.

Neve Dekalim (Hebrew: נְוֵה דְּקָלִים) (lit. "Oasis of Palms") was an Israeli settlement and a community in the Gush Katif settlement bloc in the Gaza Strip. It was founded in 1983 after the Israeli withdrawal from the Sinai Peninsula. Neve Dekalim served as a regional center for the Gush Katif region and was the seat of the Hof Aza Regional Council. It was located between the Khan Yunis Palestinian refugee camp and the Mediterranean Sea. Neve Dekalim was evacuated in August 2005 as part of Israel's unilateral disengagement plan. It was turned into a training camp by Hamas, which described it as a "military training camp for martyrs."

Katif (Hebrew: קָטִיף) was an Israeli settlement in the Gush Katif bloc in the Gaza Strip, about 1 km north of the Palestinian refugee camp of Deir al-Balah Camp.