Eyewitness testimony reported Wednesday by Al Jazeera accused Israeli troops of massacring forcibly displaced women and children sheltering at a school in northern Gaza, an allegation that prompted a leading U.S. Muslim advocacy group to demand a response from President Joe Biden.
The reported massacre took place at the Shadia Abu Ghazala School in the al-Faluja area west of the Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip. Video footage aired by the Qatar-based news network showed numerous covered bodies piled in one of the school’s classrooms.
“The Israeli soldiers came in and opened fire on them,” one unidentified witness said. “They took all men, then entered classrooms and opened fire on a woman and all the children with her,” including “newborn children.”
“The Israeli soldiers executed those innocent families point-blank,” she added.
A man who arrived at the scene after the alleged mass murder told Al Jazeera that “we found dozens of dead bodies in the classrooms.”
“There is no sign of any missiles or shells,” he added. “All those who were in the buildings were executed from point-blank. The Israeli soldiers opened fire on them. Many families came searching for their children. They found them all killed. They were all killed, executed at gunpoint.”
As of press time, the alleged massacre had not been independently verified.
There have been reports for a week of executions in Gaza, many based on eye witness accounts. Those witnesses are Palestinian, so they count for less in Western media, but at some point the aggregation of so many accounts, the consistency of them, and the video and photographic… https://t.co/1jeM5tLKbZ
— Ryan Grim (@ryangrim) December 13, 2023
Ibrahim Hooper, national communications director at the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), said in a statement that “because the Biden administration stands almost alone on the world stage in defending and enabling the far-right Israeli government’s campaign of ethnic cleansing and genocide in Gaza, administration officials must respond to the reported execution-style massacre of women, children, and babies seeking refuge in a school in Gaza.”
“Our nation must stop enabling what even President Biden privately admits is the ‘indiscriminate’ targeting of innocent Palestinians,” he added.
Also on Wednesday, Palestinians sheltering in the Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza said Israeli troops stormed the facility after days of shelling and siege.
“Conditions in the hospital are dire with no water or electricity,” one survivor told Al Jazeera. “Bodies are scattered on the ground.”
An elderly man told the network that “the Israeli army used loudspeakers to demand the evacuation of the displaced individuals from the hospital,” but IDF troops subsequently shot people trying to flee the facility.
Gaza health officials said Wednesday that at least 18,608 Palestinians – most of them women and children – have been killed by Israeli bombs and bullets since October 7, with over 50,000 more Palestinians wounded.
Additionally, more than 1.9 million Gazans – or upward of 85% of the strip’s population – have been forcibly displaced since October 7, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
Brett Wilkins is is staff writer for Common Dreams. Based in San Francisco, his work covers issues of social justice, human rights and war and peace. This originally appeared at CommonDreams and is reprinted with the author’s permission.
WTF?! War Crimes? Crimes Against Humanity?……………………..
They’ll just say that Hamas was using them as “human shields”. They always have an answer, no matter how ridiculous. Answers that are sure to suck in the Fundies and other reflexive Israeli regime supporters.
Or they’ll just call you anti-Semitic and get you fired. Because while most critically thinking people in 2023 give that label as much credit as as the wolf who cried boy, it still matters a lot to the billionaires who own this country.
And then they will demand Biden replace the ammo they expended murdering them, and he and the entire US Congress will comply
I’m no longer asking for “critical thinking.” I have lowered the bar. Any “thinking” is good enough for me.
don’t strain your brain
i still owe you a beer
I believe the “alleged” story. It smacks of the massacre of Deir Yassin in 1948.
I don’t totally believe the story but it kind of goes along with the three hostages that were murdered by the IDF. I think the IDF is out of control. The Israelis are proving my statement of a couple weeks ago that they are just as mean and brutal as the supposed terrorists they are fighting.
I thought it was a little quiet round hair, stateside, guess thair all over there lately, no seriously there a waresz
From forced evacuations to outright executions to starvation and deprivation of water — how does what Israel is doing now differ from what the Germans did in the 1930s and 40s? The world should be ashamed that it’s allowing these modern-day Nazis to commit such horrendous crimes against humanity.
How could the immoral Biden administration stoop so low as to support Netanyahu’s mass execution of women, children, and babies in Gaza?
This is more than shameful.
It is criminal.
He and Congress are bought and paid for by AIPAC
Thanks for noticing, but they have been stooped “so low” for a long time.
AIPAC campaign funds.
Dec 8, 2023 US vetos UN resolution for cease-fire in Gaza
The United States has vetoed a UN Security Council resolution calling for a cease-fire in Gaza.
https://youtu.be/1w0abJa1VsY?si=eiAxkiOTK4s4nW1E
AND AN AMERICAN TEACHER HAS THREATENED TO KILL A STUDENT RIGHT HERE IN THE USA OVER DISAGREEMENT WITH TEACHER FLYING ISRAEL’S FLAG IN CLASSROOM: War brings out the crazies on both sides of the issue, doesn’t it.
Teacher Allegedly Threatens To Kill Student Who Criticized Israeli Flag
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/georgia-teacher-israeli-flag-murder-threat_n_657b5d79e4b061b3c92e69bf
I can’t believe the cops in Georgia are so Anti-Semitic as to charge him with threatening to murder a child who insulted the banner of God’s Chosen People
If he has tenure, he’ll get away with it.
Sadly, racism exists in every society and ethnic group, directed at either one group or another, or all others.
It is one of humanity’s serious faults, best allayed with education and a world at peace. This is just more proof of how stupid human beings can become when intoxicated with war fever.
War fever is a male disease that also affects innocents, women and children.
The behavior isnt new.This behavior forms the core of the early successes of the Zionism . Success in delivering the unthinkable cruelty and hiding or even inverting the cruelty describes Zionism’s mechanism . Alternate media and grassroot participation through smart phones have exposed a new fault line for Israel to fight. Thst fight is being played out in the corridors of the seat of the western democratic power and in the pressure tactics by the donor class for each one to see and say – Dont you have any decency .In all past illegal and preemptive wars, Israel fought ,none of these inimical forces worked against the zionism. Zionism ,in the past starting from its first meeting in late 19 th century ,could say any thing,assert any thing, manufacture anything,change anything,alter anything and portray their behaviors in any way ,and blame the opposite sides any way they wanted and would smoothlessly get away with the crimes that possibly form the core fabric of the zionism.
Its not the powerfull nations did not know it. There were ample warnings,facts ,histories,and awareness of the zionist’s plans. But just like today,they in the past ignored it ,profited from it , or succumbed to the pressures from the zionists.
Agreed. I saw this share before it was deleted… Once Thomas wakes up… Any minute now…
I’m awake. So far as I can tell, the post you’re replying to doesn’t violate the site’s guidelines, so why would it be deleted?
What are the guidelines on Israel, antisemitism and Zionism then? And why were several of mine deleted?
In the last month, you’ve had a grand total of one comment deleted (assuming you’re not posting under other Disqus account names).
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Repeat after me, Israel is so nice. “IDF Troops ‘Executed’ Women and Children in Gaza School.”
Even if someone supports Israel’s right to defend itself, this bloodshed will make this a forever war. Israelis and Palestinians will all suffer for generations to come.
Oct 7 has made a mess. IMO, it put the peace process back by 20 years. Not that it was all that great to begin with.
This is not going to end well for Israel.
Maybe, but it sure not going to end well for Gaza.
why does the word ‘Executed’ have quotation marks around it ?
god-damnit WHAT
The article stated “must respond to the reported execution-style massacre “ , this flesh and blood bath is one massive execution massacre.
Welcome to the dark side.
The IDF is not perfect. I am sure some of their troops have revenge on their mind for Oct 7. It does not make it right. The longer this war goes on more bad things will happen. Hamas started this war and Hamas can end it.