Name of City: Khan Yunis
Population: 250000 (2019)
Area: 54 km²
The city is located in the south of the Gaza Strip in the south western part of Palestine near the Sinai Peninsula and has an average altitude of 45 meters.
Name of Mayor: Mr. Alaeddine El-Batta
Contact: mayor@khanyounis.mun.ps
Website: http://www.khanyounis.mun.ps/
Main features:
The city dates back to the Mamluk era, where Barquq Castle was built in its center in 1387 AD. It was also a rest for merchants coming from the Levant to Egypt and vice versa serving the southern region. Currently, it is the largest city in the Gaza Strip Palestine by area, and the second largest city in terms of population.
Main economic activities:
The agricultural sector is considered one of the leading basic sectors in Khan Yunis. According to the latest available data the total production constituted 27.2% of the total agricultural sector production in the Gaza Strip, and thus it occupies the first place of value production. The city is also a commercial center attracting residents flocks from all over the Gaza Strip.
Conditions and environmental challenges:
The people of Khan Yunis suffer from a significant lack of basic services to help them to develop their city’s standard of living. The city suffers from a significant lack of electricity supply, poor waste water systems and poor road infrastructure, which have a negative impact on the population’s ability to move and work, as well as on their health, which in turn has a negative impact on economic growth.
Therefore, the establishment and support of electrical supply, agricultural, industrial, tourism and animal production projects will create opportunities and reduce the unemployment rate that has reached more than 41%.
Khan Younis is confronting a current expansion in temperature over the ordinary normal temperature that left its effects on agriculture, where Khan Younis is described by having a fruitful soil. In addition to that extraordinary precipitation during winter season that has induced annual floods, leaving its effect of agricultural crops, underground water and roads.