Palestinians abused, forced to chant anti-Hamas slogans in ‘safe corridor’
Israeli forces watch on as Palestinians flee Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, 26 January 2024
Ruwaida Kamal Amer and Ibtisam Mahdi report in +972 on 6 February 2024:
For several weeks, the city of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip has witnessed intense Israeli bombardment by ground and air, as well as fierce clashes between Israeli forces and Hamas fighters. Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant announced last week that the army had successfully dismantled Hamas’ capabilities in the city — a claim Israel made earlier about Gaza City in the north, only to be proven wrong. But in Khan Younis, as in the rest of Gaza, it is we civilians who are bearing the brunt of the violence.
Israeli tanks have besieged two of the most important hospitals still partially functioning in southern Gaza: Nasser and Al-Amal. Both are located in the western part of Khan Younis, and have been overwhelmed since the war began not only with the influx of patients but also with families seeking shelter after having been displaced from the northern parts of the Strip. Israeli forces opened fire at the more than 8,000 displaced people sheltering in the vicinity of Nasser Hospital, and bulldozed graves in the adjacent cemetery — one of at least 16 cemeteries that Israel has desecrated during its operation in Gaza.
Israeli tanks also penetrated the vicinity of Al-Aqsa University at the western edge of the city, near the previously designated “safe zone” of Al-Mawasi; targeted the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) Training Center, one of the largest shelters in all of Gaza which had been accommodating up to 40,000 displaced people; and completely surrounded the western part of Khan Younis refugee camp.
The Israeli army dropped leaflets ordering residents to evacuate Khan Younis, and in recent days some 120,000 Palestinians have fled the city through a supposedly “safe corridor” spanning from the west of the refugee camp to the area of Al-Mawasi near Al-Aqsa University. The passage through this corridor, however, which is made up of three Israeli military checkpoints, has for many Palestinians been one of the most harrowing ordeals since the war began.
According to testimonies from Palestinians who have made the journey, including one of the authors, those passing through the corridor were forced to chant slogans against Hamas; many had their belongings confiscated; and men were separated from their families, stripped, and subjected to hours of physical abuse and deprivation. All the while, thousands remain trapped inside Khan Younis, unable to leave their shelters out of fear of being shot on the streets.
Ibtisam’s testimony
I was not intending to leave Khan Younis. Having fled Gaza City at the start of the war with my husband and two children upon the orders of the occupation army, we sought refuge first in Al-Shati refugee camp before being forced to flee again to Khan Younis, which was considered a safe area. We moved around between different residences in the city before finding a room to rent. As the ground invasion of the city commenced, we decided we weren’t going to flee again.