Khan Yunis

Khan Yunis
Municipality type A (City)
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 city in the southern Gaza Strip; it is the capital of the Khan Yunis Governorate in the Gaza Strip.

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).