Khan Yunis | |
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Arabic transcription(s) | |
• Arabic | خان يونس |
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Location of Khan Yunis within Palestine | |
Coordinates: 31°20′40″N 34°18′11″E / 31.34444°N 34.30306°E | |
Palestine grid | 83/83 |
State | ![]() |
Governorate | Khan Yunis |
Founded | 1387 |
Government | |
• Type | City |
• Head of Municipality | Muhammad Jawad Abd al-Khaliq al-Farra |
Area | |
• Total | 54,560 dunams (54.56 km2 or 21.07 sq mi) |
Population (2017)[1] | |
• Total | 205,125 |
• Density | 3,800/km2 (9,700/sq mi) |
Name meaning | "Caravansary [of] Jonah" |
Khan Yunis (Arabic: خان يونس, lit. 'Caravansary [of] Yonis[2]'), 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.
Before the 14th century, Khan Yunis was a village known as "Salqah". To protect caravans, pilgrims and travellers a vast caravan serai was constructed there by the emir Yūnus an-Nūrūzī in 1387–88, an official of the Mamluk Empire.[3]
According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, Khan Yunis had a population of 205,125 in 2017.[1] Khan Yunis, which lies only four kilometres (2+1⁄2 miles) east of the Mediterranean Sea, has a semi-arid climate with temperature of 30 °C maximum in summer and 10 °C minimum in winter, with an annual rainfall of approximately 260 mm (10.2 in).
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