“It smells like death,” said Maha Thaer, a mother of four, as she returned to the devastated southern Gaza city of Khan Younis on Sunday, after Israeli troops withdrew.

“We don’t have a city anymore — only rubble. There is absolutely nothing left. I could not stop myself crying as I walked through the streets,” the 38-year-old told AFP.

“All the streets have been bulldozed. And the smell… I watched people digging and bringing out the bodies,” said Thaer, whose home was partially destroyed.

Thaer, from the upmarket Hamad City district in the west of Khan Younis, said she was “very shocked and sad”. “There were no walls or windows. Most of the towers were completely blown up,” she said.

Thaer said she would move back into her badly damaged apartment, “even though it is not suitable for living, but it is better than tents”. Her neighbours suffered a greater misfortune. “They found their homes destroyed and they don’t know where they will go,” she said.