TEHRAN - Following the withdrawal of the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) from the eastern areas of Khan Younis, medical teams are trying to recover the bodies of dead civilians and searches are underway for missing persons under the rubble.

Reporters on the ground have spoken of significant destruction left by the IOF in the area and said that residents of eastern Khan Younis have begun returning to their homes after the IOF retreated from most of the areas it had invaded. 

The level of destruction by the IOF has made ongoing search and rescue operations for families missing under the rubble an extremely difficult challenge for medical personnel and civil defense teams.   

Reports indicate some bodies have been recovered from under the rubble, following the official announcement by the IOF of ending its operation in eastern Khan Younis after pounding the region as part of a wider and ongoing assault on central and southern parts of the Strip. 

Reporters on the ground also noted that several bodies have arrived at the Nasser Medical Complex after being retrieved from the eastern part of Khan Younis, noting that most of the bodies are decayed.

So far, medical and civil defense teams have recovered 42 bodies from the areas of al-Qarara and Bani Suhaila east of Khan Younis, with the number likely to increase.

The Gaza Civil Defense announced the recovery of a body and 6 injured people from an apartment in one of the residential towers that was struck by Israeli shelling. 

They also recovered bodies and others still alive but seriously injured as a result of the IOF shelling at a family home in Abasan al-Kabira in the area. 

The Gaza Civil Defense pointed out that it still has 200 reports and signals about missing civilians east of Khan Younis.

The Red Crescent in Gaza confirmed that the IOF has caused massive destruction in several neighborhoods of Khan Younis, and racing areas to the ground that the IOF claimed were safe zones have only exacerbated the suffering of displaced people.

Before its withdrawal, the IOF demolished the Kamil al-Afha school in the al-Qarara area north of Khan Younis.

Reports say the dead were not spared from IOF tanks, which destroyed the Bani Suhaila cemetery east of Khan Younis, trampling and digging up graves and removing the bodies before withdrawing from the area after a ten-day assault.

Reports described the scenes at the cemetery as being completely razed as if it has been uprooted from its foundations. Most of the graves are said to have been exhumed. 

Many villages in the eastern part of Khan Younis no longer exist. 

Residents of Khan Younis say they have observed large amounts of military debris left behind by the IOF.  

Footage documented the extensive damage left by the occupation forces around the al-Zilal Mosque and the Bani Suhaila area. 

Despite the destruction and casualties caused by the IOF, signs of life have begun to appear as residents slowly return to inspect what is left of their homes.

As the genocidal Israeli war on Gaza approaches its 300th day. The IOF continues its aggression on the besieged territory with an Apache helicopter reportedly firing in the northeastern region of al-Bureij in central Gaza.

The IOF used artillery and other munitions to bombard the western part of the al-Sabra neighborhood and the eastern part of the al-Zeitoun neighborhood southeast of Gaza City in the north. 

Rescue and emergency teams managed to recover a body after the IOF targeted a group of civilians near the vicinity of al Safatawi Roundabout, north of the enclave.