Massacre
On December 13 The New Arab and Euro-Med Monitor reported on a massacre having taken place at the Shadia Abu Ghazala School in North Gaza. [2] [3] Eyewitnesses and relatives gave testimony of at least 15 Palestinians having been shot "point-blank" by Israeli troops. This reportedly occurred overnight between Tuesday 12 and Wednesday 13 December, but the timing could not be confirmed. Al Jazeera had released footage of the bodies. [2] [3] [5] Muhammad Jalal told the Euro-Med monitor team: “We were shocked to discover 15 bodies after the Israeli forces left the school,” adding "It was obvious that they were directly shot, and some of them had their bodies disintegrated due to the heavy gunfire.” [3] Based on its initial investigation Euro-Med Monitor confirmed they had been subjected to field executions by Israeli soldiers as they were being questioned. [3]
In a December 13 report, Al Jazeera also cited eyewitness testimony of the massacre, with one woman stating: "They took all men, then entered classrooms and opened fire on a woman and all the children with her." [5]
On December 18 Reuters reported on a Gaza grandfather providing testimony of his family's killing by Israeli troops as they were sheltering in the school in early December:
When the Israeli soldiers entered the Gaza school where Yousef Khalil was sleeping near his family, they began shooting indiscriminately, killing nine people including children, he said, pointing to bullet-pocked, bloodstained walls..."They are my children and grandchildren. Why did they shoot them in front of my eyes?" said Khalil. He had been sleeping and the younger people were sitting up when two soldiers entered the room and shot everybody, he said. "They started to shoot all around. Then they finished shooting. I was moving. They said 'where do you want to go?'. I said 'I want to leave, to get out. I want to check my children who died'. They said 'you're not allowed out of this room'." [4]
He further stated that when survivors went back to the school a week later, the bodies were still there. Footage filmed by Reuters between December 13-15 "showed ruined classrooms, at least two corpses on the floor of indeterminate age, bloodied bedding, and bullet holes and bloodstains low to the ground." When asked for comment about the incident, the Israeli military said they were "looking into it". [4]
Al Jazeera published another report on the reported massacre on December 26. [1] Videos and photos obtained by Al Jazeera showed piled up bodies discovered on December 13, and "traces of blood and remnants of the victims’ belongings that were with them before they were killed, while bullets had pierced the classroom walls where bodies were found." [1]
Witnesses said Israeli troops killed several Palestinians, including women, children and babies, "execution-style" as they were sheltering in the school:
A father of one of the victims said he was asleep with his wife and six children when Israeli soldiers “suddenly stormed” the school. They entered the classroom we were in and fired directly at those present without uttering a word,” he said. They prevented me from speaking, asking questions, or commenting on anything, and every time I tried to talk to them, they silenced me,” he recalled...Saeed Jumaa’s sister was among those killed along with her husband and children. Jumaa said he was able to return to check on his relatives in the school several days later when Israeli forces left, but was “shocked to find that everyone in it had been executed in a brutal manner”.“In the room were my sister’s husband and next to him, their sons Maysara and Ahmed. My sister in the corner was hugging her remaining children,” Jumaa said. Israeli forces killed them by “firing at them point-blank”, he said. Their bodies were “swollen and filled with worms”, he added. According to Jumaa, Israeli soldiers had “written something in Hebrew” on his nephew’s face. “We did not understand the meaning, and we were in a hurry to bury them days later as their bodies had decomposed,” he said. [1]
Another witness who found the bodies said "there were no signs of a missile strike or any shells inside the classrooms", adding the victims had been "shot at directly" by Israeli troops. [1] At least 7 bodies were reportedly found in multiple rooms. [1]
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