The Khan Yunis refugee camp, also called Khan Yunis Camp (), is a

Palestinian refugee camp Palestinian refugee camps were first established to accommodate Palestinians who were displaced by the 1948 Palestinian expulsion and flight during the 1948 Palestine war. Camps were established by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UN ...

in the

Khan Yunis Governorate The Khan Yunis Governorate () 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 426,0 ...

just west of the city of

Khan Yunis Khan Yunis (), also spelled Khan Younis or Khan Yunus, is a city in the southern Gaza Strip, Palestine, and serves as the capital of the Khan Yunis Governorate. It has been largely destroyed during the Gaza war. Before the 14th century, Khan Y ...

and two kilometers east of the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern ...

coast in the southern

Gaza Strip The Gaza Strip, also known simply as Gaza, is a small territory located on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea; it is the smaller of the two Palestinian territories, the other being the West Bank, that make up the State of Palestine. I ...

. While

UNRWA The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA, pronounced ) is a UN agency that supports the relief and human development of Palestinian refugees. UNRWA's mandate encompasses Palestinians who fl ...

states that there were approximately 95,550

Palestinian refugees Palestinian refugees are citizens of Mandatory Palestine, and their descendants, who fled or were expelled from their country, village or house over the course of the 1948 Palestine war and during the 1967 Six-Day War. Most Palestinian refug ...

living in the camp in 2023, the

Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics The Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS; ) is the official statistical institution of Palestine. Its main task is to provide credible statistical figures at the national and international levels. It is a state institution that provid ...

recorded a population of 41,182 in the 2017 census. A mother and child stand next to their tent in a newly formed Khan Younis refugee camp in the wake of the war in 1948

A mother and child stand next to their tent in a newly formed Khan Younis refugee camp in the wake of the war in 1948

The Khan Yunis refugee camp was established after the

1948 Arab–Israeli War The 1948 Arab–Israeli War, also known as the First Arab–Israeli War, followed the 1947–1948 civil war in Mandatory Palestine, civil war in Mandatory Palestine as the second and final stage of the 1948 Palestine war. The civil war becam ...

, 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 The Israel Defense Forces (IDF; , ), alternatively referred to by the Hebrew-language acronym (), is the national military of the State of Israel. It consists of three service branches: the Israeli Ground Forces, the Israeli Air Force, and ...

. 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 The Khan Yunis massacre took place on 3 November 1956, perpetrated by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) in the Palestinian town of Khan Yunis and the nearby refugee camp of the same name in the Gaza Strip during the Suez Crisis. According to Ben ...

. 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.Special Report of the Director of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East Covering the period 1 November 1956 to mid-December 1956
.

UNISPAL The United Nations Information System on the Question of Palestine (UNISPAL) is an online collection of texts of current and historical United Nations decisions and publications concerning the question of Palestine, the Israeli–Palestinian confli ...

. 1956-12-15. 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 Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

on the Gaza Strip following the Hamas takeover of the territory. UNRWA says that at least 10,000 homes need to be constructed.

Notable residents

Mohammed Assaf Mohammed Jaber Abdul Rahman Assaf (; born 1 September 1990) is a Palestinian pop singer well known for being the winner of the second season of ''Arab Idol'', broadcast by the MBC network. His victory received worldwide coverage from the media a ...

Mohammed Deif Mohammed Diab Ibrahim al-Masri (; 12 August 1965 – 13 July 2024), better known as Mohammed Deif (), was a Palestinian militant who served as the sixth commander of the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades. He succeeded Salah Shehade following t ...

Yahya Sinwar Yahya Ibrahim Hassan Sinwar (; 29 October 1962 – 16 October 2024) was a Palestinian militant and politician who served as chairman of the Hamas Political Bureau from August 2024, and as the leader of Hamas in the Gaza Strip from February ...

Mohammed Sinwar Mohammed Ibrahim Hassan al-Sinwar (; 16 September 1975 – 13 May 2025) was a Palestinian politician and militant who became the third Hamas leader in the Gaza Strip, following the killing of his brother, Yahya Sinwar in October 2024. He also ...

References

External links

Welcome To Khan Yunis R.C.
{{Palestinian refugee camps Palestinian refugee camps in the Gaza Strip Khan Yunis Governorate Buildings and structures completed in 1948 1949 establishments in All-Palestine (Gaza) Khan Yunis in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict