The Israeli military has left a massive trail of destruction in the wake of its pounding of the Hamad City development in southern Gaza’s Khan Younis that has killed or displaced many Palestinians.

Yamen Abu Sulaima, civil defense spokesman in Khan Younis, told Al Jazeera that “the destruction is big and the suffering is even bigger” in the area made up of many residential complexes.

“Hamad City is almost a distress area, close to 70 percent of the buildings are destroyed. Our crews are hoping to recover some of the bodies. But the civil defense crews lack heavy machinery. We really need it in these situations,” he said.