On this day, November 3, 1956, the Israeli army massacred hundreds of Palestinian refugees in Gaza,

On this day, November 3, 1956, the Israeli army massacred hundreds of Palestinian refugees in Gaza, amidst a joint Israeli-French-British invasion of Egypt to prevent nationalisation of the Suez Canal.

In the Khan Yunis camp in southern Gaza, Israeli military officials gathered men aged 16-50 in public squares. According to Salman Abu Sitta:

 “They led them in single file, and lined them up against the wall of the fourteenth-century castle built by Sultan Burquq in the town’s main square. As they gathered, the assembled teachers, the bank clerks, the shopkeepers, the tradesmen, and the farmers looked as ordinary as they would on any other day.

“An officer stood in his jeep as if to salute. He looked from one side to another. The officer raised his hand high, and lowered it down quickly like a chopping knife. Bursts of machine gun shattered the silence on and off, left and right. The machine guns rang out in unison, then separately as if playing in an orchestra of hell, led by a devilish maestro. The captured men fell to the ground.”

The United Nations estimated that 275 people were murdered, although some estimates are as high as 1200.

After the massacres, one Israeli soldier wrote to his girlfriend: “I am not satisfied with the amount I have already killed; we killed hundreds but for me it is not enough. At every opportunity I take revenge on them, and opportunities are not lacking, especially these days when I am among thousands of Arabs. They are under curfew, and this is a great opportunity to do anything we want to them. And I’m doing just that, and I won’t stop until I am on my way home, I swear.”

Pictured: Some of the victims of the massacre.

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