Khan Yunis

Khan Yunis
City in the Gaza Strip
Arabic transcription(s)
• Arabic	خان يونس
Municipal Seal of Khan Younis
Khan Yunis Location of Khan Yunis within Palestine
Coordinates: 31°20′40″N 34°18′11″E / 31.34444°N 34.30306°E / 31.34444; 34.30306
Palestine grid	83/83
State	State of Palestine
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).