GAZA – The city of Khan Younis and Gaza as a whole are going
through a difficult period due to the ongoing Israeli war of extermination on
the Gaza Strip since October 7th. These moments have resurfaced one of the most
horrific crimes and massacres committed by Israel in Gaza: the massacre known
as the "Khan Younis massacre," which took place in 1956.
اضافة اعلان
As reported by Al Ghad newspaper, this massacre, carried out
in two phases, resulted in the deaths of more than 250 Palestinians. The first
massacre took place on November 3, 1956, where over 250 Palestinians lost their
lives.
Nine days after the initial massacre, on November 12, 1956,
an Israeli unit carried out another brutal massacre in the same camp, claiming
the lives of around 275 civilians. Additionally, more than a hundred
Palestinians from Rafah refugee camp lost their lives on the same day.
This massacre occurred in the context of the tripartite
attack on Egypt. In 1956, the late Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser
nationalized the Suez Canal, a vital waterway allowing trade between the
Mediterranean Sea and the Indian Ocean via the Red Sea. This decision
threatened the interests of major powers, particularly Britain and France,
which were determined to foil Nasser's decision, even if it meant aggression
against Egypt.
Indeed, in a secret meeting held in Sevres on October 24,
1956, Britain, France, and Israel agreed to launch a three-pronged attack
against Egypt. The attack began with an Israeli strike on Egyptian positions in
the Sinai Peninsula on October 29 of the same year.
Taking advantage of the ceasefire declared on November 2,
the Israeli occupation invaded Rafah and the Gaza Strip, which was under
Egyptian authority at that time. Responding to the resistance initiated by the
people of Khan Younis, the Israeli occupation forces shelled the city,
resulting in devastating civilian casualties, paving the way for one of the
worst massacres in Gaza.
The phases of the
massacre and the brutality that followed
The first phase of the massacre started with the
distribution of leaflets from aircraft warning the population against resisting
Israeli forces. Then, Israeli military vehicles moved through the streets of
Khan Younis, demanding that males aged 16 to 50 exit. While soldiers
indiscriminately fired on the gathered crowds in public squares, those who
stayed in their homes were not spared and were killed in front of their
families.
The second phase, which occurred nine days after the initial
massacre, involved the brutal killing of hundreds of Palestinians. On November
12, 1956, an Israeli army unit carried out another massacre, claiming the lives
of around 275 civilians in the same camp.
Following the massacre's victims was similar to the first
massacre, through loudspeakers and pamphlets instructing civilians to leave the
city, before the occupation forces treacherously killed over 275 Palestinians,
leaving their bodies scattered in the area. The massacre did not stop in Khan
Younis, as the Israeli occupation killed more than a hundred other Palestinians
from Rafah refugee camp on the same day, extending the atrocity to the
outskirts of Bani Suheila in Rafah.
The aftermath
The imposed curfew on Gazan citizens led to the corpses of
the massacre's victims remaining outdoors and under debris for a long period.
The Palestinians were prohibited from retrieving the villagers' bodies, and the
bodies were left scattered around the area.
After the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and Sinai in March
1957, a mass grave was discovered near Khan Younis, containing the bodies of 40
Palestinian men who had been shot in the back of the head.
The savagery of the massacre is indescribable, with the
remaining victims of the Khan Younis massacre staying under the rubble of their
homes and villages for decades. Some victims of the massacre were found in
2003, 47 years after the Khan Younis massacre was committed.
The United Nations documented the death of only 250
Palestinians in Khan Younis and did not address the massacre committed by the
occupation against civilians or hold anyone accountable. Consequently, no legal
memos were filed to hold any of the occupation leaders accountable for
committing war crimes from the time of the massacre until now.
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