Rafah massacre
| Rafah massacre | |
|---|---|
| Part of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict Aftermath of the Suez Crisis |
|
| Location | Rafah, Gaza Protectorate |
| Date | 12 November 1956 |
| Target | Male Arab villagers Suspected members of the Palestinian fedayeen Egyptian Military |
|
Attack type
|
Massacre (disputed) |
| Deaths | ~111 |
| Perpetrators | Israel Defense Forces |
The Rafah massacre occurred on November 12, 1956, during Israel's occupation of the Sinai Peninsula and Gaza Protectorate following the Suez Crisis. The town of Rafah, lying on Gaza's border with Egypt, had been one of two invasion points during the initial incursion by the Israel Defense Forces into the Strip on November 1. As with the earlier Khan Yunis massacre, circumstances surrounding the events which led to the deaths of approximately 111 residents of Rafah and the nearby refugee camp are highly disputed, with Israel neither denying nor acknowledging any wrongdoing, while admitting that a number of refugees were killed during a screening operation. Refugees, it is also claimed, continued to resist the occupying army.
The Palestinian version maintains that all resistance had ceased when the killings took place. According to survivor testimonies, IDF soldiers rounded up male individuals over fifteen years of age throughout the Gaza Strip in an effort to root out members of the Palestinian fedayeen and the Palestinian Brigade of the Egyptian army. Israel proclaimed that the civilian population would be held collectively responsible for any attacks on Israeli soldiers during the occupation, which lasted from 1 November 1956 to 7 March 1957. Dozens of summary executions took place of Palestinians who had been taken prisoner, and hundreds of civilians were killed as Israeli forces combed through areas like Khan Yunis, and others died in several separate incidents. Calculations of the total number of Gazans killed by the IDF in this four-month period of Israeli rule vary between 930 and 1,200 people, out of a population of 330,000.
The invasion of Rafah and the nearby Egyptian city of Arish began in the early hours of November 1, 1956. In his memoir The Sinai Campaign, Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces Moshe Dayan wrote of the strategic importance of capturing Rafah, saying "If El Arish and Rafah were to fall to us, the Gaza Strip will be isolated and unable, alone, to hold out." Rafah's defenses collapsed within hours of Israeli arrival in the Strip, and by late morning Israeli soldiers were walking the streets of the town. Egyptian military officers in the area removed their uniforms and fled into the interior of Rafah, attempting to blend in with the local populace. Fighting between Israeli forces and those of the Egyptians and local militants ceased on November 7.
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