1956 Rafah massacre

This page is subject to the extended confirmed restriction related to the Arab-Israeli conflict.The Rafah massacre occurred on November 12, 1956, during Israel's occupation of the Sinai Peninsula and Gaza Protectorate following the Suez Crisis.

[1] 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.

Egyptian Army officers in the area removed their uniforms and fled into the interior of Rafah, attempting to blend in with the local populace.

[7] Israeli efforts to root out the fedayeen in Rafah's population on November 1 proved fruitless, save for one soldier, Ahmed Joudah.

Their fate is unknown but after the Israeli withdrawal, a gravesite was excavated and 36 bodies were recovered, and were identified by a Gazan court doctor as desaparecidos from Zeitoun.

[9] As a steady flow of military-age males gathered near the school, Israeli soldiers searched homes in the area for any remaining men who had chosen not to comply with the announcement, killing any that they found.

[13] In the oral accounts collected years later, the procession eventually reached the wall which separated the school and street, the civilian men being made to line up against it.

As they entered the school, the male residents of Rafah were swung at by soldiers wielding heavy sticks and made to jump over a segment of barbed wire.

[9] On November 28, Israeli Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion, in response to a question by a communist member of the Knesset, gave the official version of events.

A riot had broken out in Rafah under Egyptian incitement and the UNRWA building was subject to an assault, and, in quelling the disturbance some 48 people were killed.

[9] As a result of foreign coverage, mass killings in the Gaza Strip came to an end, though Israel continued to employ summary executions.

The chief of the United Nations Observer mission interpreted these actions as aiming at ridding the Gaza Strip of its refugee population.

[9] Israeli officers told UNRWA that the attitude towards the screening was "hostile," and a resistance to the operation by refugees was responsible for the casualties among their ranks.