The battle of Khan Yunis, which evolved into the siege of Khan Yunis in late January,[25] began on 1 December 2023 in the midst of the Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip.
Battle
December 2023
On 1 December 2023, the Israel Defense Forces launched air raid operations on the city of Khan Yunis, with Israeli Air Force fighter jets striking over 50 targets in the area.[26] These air raids and artillery strikes continued for the next few days in large numbers.[27]
On 3 December, Israeli forces announced the expansion of the ground invasion to the south of Gaza using ground and armored forces.[28] On the same day, Hamas announced that it had targeted Israeli troops and armored vehicles with mortar shells and Yassin rocket-propelled grenades.
On 5 December, the Israeli forces claimed that their troops had reached the center of Khan Yunis. They stated that this was the most intense day of battles since the start of ground operations, in terms of Hamas fighters killed, the number of engagements and the use of fire from the ground and the air.[29]
The Palestinian Islamic Jihad published a video showing militants confronting Israeli forces penetrating east of the city.[citation needed] Also, Hamas announced that they have counted the total or partial destruction of 24 military vehicles in Khan Yunis. They also stated that they eliminated 8 Israeli troops with sniper attacks and that they successfully demolished a building housing Israeli troops with a barrel bomb and TBG explosives, causing the complete collapse of the building.[citation needed]
On 10 December, the IDF announced that 6 IDF soldiers had been killed whilst fighting in Khan Yunis.[30]
On 18 December, IDF announced that the Duvdevan Unit and the Oketz Unit had destroyed multiple tunnels and a drone factory during advances in Khan Yunis while seven IDF soldiers were killed. The destruction of rocket launchers aimed at Israel degraded the ability of Hamas to launch rocket strikes on Israel.[31] It was reported that Hamas was transferring forces from across Gaza Strip to reinforce the Khan Yunis Brigade which the IDF estimates would take months to destroy. [32]
On 19 December, al-Qassam Brigades announced that they had detonated a rigged house when Israeli forces entered the building and also announced a separate incident where they trapped Israeli forces in a house and detonated anti-personnel charges and thermobaric shells. The al-Qassam Brigades claimed both attacks killed and wounded Israeli forces but without evidence to support their claims. IDF forces were reinforced by an additional brigade and engineering force.[33]
On 23 December, the al Qassem Brigades claimed that they lured five Israeli SOF engineers into a tunnel rigged with explosive at the east of Khan Yunis, and that they killed all of the five engineers.[34]
January 2024
On 4 January 2024, the IDF claimed to have significantly degraded the command and control of Hamas's Khan Yunis Brigade's northern and eastern battalions with the destruction of tunnel systems, infrastructure and deaths of company commanders. The IDF's 4th Brigade attacked the southern flank of Hamas's Khan Yunis Brigade as the IDF surrounded the city. In turn, Hamas’ naval special operations forces reinforced Palestinian fighters in Khan Yunis via tunnel systems while the al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades, the National Resistance Brigades and the al-Quds Brigades fought the IDF in different areas of the city.[35]
On 12 January, the IDF announced that airstrikes directed by the IDF 98th Division killed a commander in Hamas Nukhba Forces and six other Hamas fighter with the commander participating in October 7 attacks on Israel. IDF also destroyed weapon caches found in the area. The al Quds Brigades attacked an Israeli bulldozer in Khan Younis City while firing mortars against Israeli forces in central Khan Younis together with al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades. [36]
On 21 January, Israeli forces discovered an underground tunnel in a civilian area of Khan Younis which contained five prison cells where Hamas is believed to have kept the hostages. IDF published children's drawings as proof the hostages had been held there.[37]
On 24 January 2024, twenty-one Israeli soldiers were killed in an explosion and subsequent building collapse in Khan Yunis in the Gaza Strip, making it the deadliest day for the Israel Defense Forces since the ground invasion began.[38]
February 2024
On 1 February, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant visited Khan Younis and announced that all Hamas battalions in Khan Younis have been dismantled but the IDF had not yet claimed operational control over the area.[39]
On 15 February, the IDF raided the Nasser Hospital, alleging that Hamas was holding Israeli hostages at the facility and it possibly contained bodies of some dead hostages. The IDF arrested dozens of people it alleged to be militants.[40]
On 16 February, the IDF raided the Khan Yunis refugee camp. Special forces soldiers of the Maglan unit, backed by armored and engineering forces infiltrated the camp, which had not been conquered by the IDF, and surprised the militants in it, with the soldiers positioning themselves to trap as many militants as possible. At least 30 militants were killed in the fighting.[41]
On 18 February, the IDF reported that Hamas's Khan Younis Brigade does not exist as a military entity anymore but other Hamas-aligned militias continued attacks against the IDF.[42]
On 19 February, IDF reported that clearing operation in western Khan Younis are being finished with Israeli forces carrying out airstrikes to eliminate Hamas units trying to advance towards Khan Younis. The Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine claimed attacks with IEDs and RPGs against Israeli forces near Nasser Hospital. Hamas reported its fighters had returned from fighting areas in western Khan Younis after targeting 15 Israeli soldiers in a house.[43]
On 6 April, four Israeli soldiers were killed in an ambush in Khan Yunis.[44] The militants escaped into a tunnel. Other soldiers atyempted to pursue the attackers but noticed that the route was booby-trapped and broke off. Another militant squad in the area fired an RPG at an Israeli tank, causing no casualties. The tank returned fire and killed the militants.[45] Two days later, the Qassam Brigades military media published the operation, which they had named the "Ambush of the Righteous", depicting a complex and meticulously planned attack with several phases.[21]
On 7 April, all Israeli forces withdrew from Khan Yunis as part of a general withdrawal of most Israeli forces from the southern Gaza Strip.[5][46] In an announcement the same day, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant claimed that Hamas forces has ceased to exist as a military force in Khan Yunis and stated the withdrawal was in preparation for the planned Rafah offensive.[47] However, rockets were fired by Palestinian forces in Khan Younis immediately after the IDF's withdrawal.[48] White House National Security Communications Adviser John Kirby claimed it was a "rest and refit" rather than a preparation for a offensive.[49] According to the Institute for the Study of War, citing unspecified sources within the IDF, IDF hoped the withdrawal would allow displaced Palestinians in Rafah to migrate to parts of Khan Younis and the central Gaza Strip which would facilitate an Israeli clearing operation into Rafah.[50]
July 2024
An official in Gaza stated that an Israeli offensive in late-July 2024 had killed about 300 people.[51]
Aftermath
Following the withdrawal of Israeli forces, the Palestinian Civil Defence accessed the city, so far had been able to extract 280 bodies.[52] They have estimated that about 8,000 civilians lie under the rubble in Khan Yunis. Later the Palestinian civil defense crew discovered a mass grave near the Nasser Medical Complex and recovered over 310 bodies so far.[53]
The Jerusalem Post reported that Hamas had begun mass recruitment of 18-year-olds in Khan Younis in an attempt to replace the massive casualties suffered and reconstitute its forces but this was denied by the IDF. However the loss of tunnels, loss of factories producing rockets and weapons, deaths of experienced commanders and bases during the offensive would delay Hamas from regaining its pre-war strength.[54]
On 22 July, the IDF began a renewed invasion of Khan Yunis, marking the second attempt to dismantle Hamas in the city. After a week, it also ended in an Israeli withdrawal.[55]
Khan Yunis, also spelled Khan Younis or Khan Yunus, is a Palestinian city serving as the capital of the Khan Yunis Governorate in the southern Gaza Strip. It has been largely destroyed on account of the ongoing Israel–Hamas war.
This page is a partial listing of incidents of violence in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in 2004.
The Ezzedeen Al-Qassam Brigades, named after Izz ad-Din al-Qassam, is the military wing of the Palestinian nationalist organization Hamas. Led by Mohammed Deif until his presumed death on 13 July 2024, EQB is the largest and best-equipped militia operating within Gaza in recent years.
The al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades are a Fatah-aligned coalition of Palestinian armed groups in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
The Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip is a major part of the Israel–Hamas war. Starting on 7 October 2023, immediately after the Hamas-led attacks, Israel began the bombing of Gaza Strip; on 13 October, Israel began ground operations in Gaza, and on 27 October, a full-scale invasion was launched. Israel's campaign, called Operation Swords of Iron, has two stated goals: to destroy Hamas and to free the hostages. More than 35,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since the Israeli operation began, including more than 7,800 children and 4,900 women, with another 10,000 people missing and presumed dead under the rubble of destroyed buildings. There are allegations that Israel has committed war crimes and genocide during the invasion.
The battle of Beit Hanoun began on 27 October 2023 in the midst of the 2023 Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip. On 18 December 2023, Israeli forces had prematurely signalled that they had full control over Beit Hanoun and had destroyed Hamas’ Beit Hanoun Battalion. However, clashes continued in the town. Israeli forces withdrew from the town on the 24th of December. Subsequently, some Palestinian militants infiltrated back into the town and conducted attacks against Israeli forces to the east.
The siege of Gaza City began on 2 November 2023, when the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) surrounded Gaza City, amid the Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip, which was a counterattack to the 2023 Hamas-led attack on Israel. Gaza City is the most populated city in the Gaza Strip and the battle started on 30 October 2023, when Israel and Hamas clashed in Gaza City. According to Oxfam, there are about 500,000 Palestinians, along with 200 Israelis and other captives, were trapped in a "siege within a siege" in northern Gaza.
The following is a list of events during the Israeli–Palestinian conflict in 2024, including the 2024 events of the Israel–Hamas war.
On 6 May 2024, Israel began a military offensive in and around the city of Rafah as part of its invasion of the Gaza Strip during the Israel–Hamas war.
The Hamad City incursion was a two–week Israeli military operation against Hamas forces in the apartment complex and neighborhood of Hamad City, Khan Yunis, in the Gaza Strip.
The Siege of Al-Qarara was a military engagement between invading Israeli forces and local Palestinian forces.
This is the order of battle of the Israel–Hamas war.
The Battle of Tel al-Hawa is an ongoing battle in the ongoing Israel-Hamas war, between the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and Hamas-led Palestinian forces in the neighborhood of Tel al-Hawa in Gaza City.
The Second Battle of Khan Yunis was a military engagement in the Gaza Strip that began on 22 July 2024 as part of the ongoing Israel–Hamas war. It marked the return of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) to the Khan Yunis area inside the Gaza Strip after a previous battle and siege which lasted from December 2023 to April 2024 and ended with an Israeli withdrawal.
The Battle of Netzarim is an ongoing battle in the Israel-Hamas war, inside the Gaza Strip. The fighting is centered around the Netzarim Corridor, a road built by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) which runs through the middle of the Strip and has been used for launching military operations against Hamas-led Palestinian forces.
The Third Battle of Khan Yunis was a battle in the Israel-Hamas war which began on 9 August 2024. The battle represented the third separate ground operation in Khan Yunis by Israel against Hamas-led Palestinian forces, following the first siege and a brief second battle in the city. Like the previous two battles, it ended in an Israeli withdrawal from Khan Yunis.
The Zana ambush, referred to as the Ambush of the Righteous by Hamas, was an ambush carried out on 6 April 2024 by the Qassam Brigades against Israel Defense Forces (IDF) personnel and vehicles in the Gaza Strip. According to the IDF, four Israeli soldiers were killed as well as a number of Qassam Brigades fighters from a second cell after the initial group of militants retreated.
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Israel 
Hamas 
37 soldiers killed
3,000+ fighters killed [22] 
