‘Bodies Reduced to Fragments’ – Euro-Med Documents Gaza Massacre

December 24, 2024 News
Al-Hassan Mosque in the Tuffah neighborhood was targeted by Israeli forces in November 2023. (Photo: via Euro-Med Monitor)

By Palestine Chronicle Staff  

The airstrike destroyed the mosque, one of the largest in the area, within seconds, resulting “in the deaths of all worshippers present, with most of the bodies reduced to fragments.”

An Israeli airstrike on a mosque in Gaza City during dawn prayers killed over 15 Palestinians and injured women, children and the elderly in November last year, a new investigation by the Geneva-based Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor has revealed.

The investigation into the attack on November 16, 2023, concluded that “no evidence was found of any military targets, such as objects or armed individuals, inside the mosque or in its surrounding area at the time of the attack.”

The probe found that at approximately 4:45 am on that Wednesday, Israeli aircraft struck the Al-Hassan Mosque in the Al-Sanafur area of the Al-Tuffah neighborhood, east of Gaza City, “without any prior warning.”

The attack “involved one or two heavy, high-explosive bombs and occurred just as worshippers began their dawn prayers,” the Geneva-based rights group said in a detailed report.

Collapsed onto Worshippers

The airstrike destroyed the mosque, one of the largest in the area, within seconds, collapsing it onto the worshippers inside.

“It resulted in the deaths of all worshippers present, with most of the bodies reduced to fragments,” said the rights group. Only remnants of its entrance and the two surrounding minarets remained.

The attack also resulted in casualties and “injuries of varying degrees” in a house adjacent to the mosque. Additionally, several nearby structures, including garages used for car repairs, carpentry, and washing, were destroyed, said Euro-Med Monitor.

Fire Belts

The Israeli Air Force conducted fire belts in multiple locations around the mosque area approximately 30 minutes before the mosque was targeted, according to witnesses.

After a brief lull in the bombing, the Israeli occupation army “abruptly targeted the mosque.”

“Even though the Israeli army knew that the residents were inside the mosque for prayers and that the majority of the local population, including women and children, were still asleep, it still attacked the mosque and its vicinity at dawn,” said the report.

The probe found that the disruption of internet and communication services at the time “also contributed to the delay in the release of information about the massacre” and its dissemination through the media, as some news websites only reported on the mosque’s targeting eight hours after the attack took place.

Extent of Investigation

The organization’s field team conducted personal interviews with survivors and eyewitnesses, including testimonies from six residents of the area and relatives of the victims who remained in the neighborhood. This is despite the forced displacement of most of its population following the mosque’s targeting.

The team also documented the names of the deceased and injured, in addition to analyzing video footage and photographs capturing the aftermath of the attack and the crime scene.

“Satellite imagery was also reviewed, revealing the extent of the massive destruction to the site before and after the air strike,” Euro-Med Monitor noted.

Witness Accounts

Ezz Al-Din Maher Kraim, an 18-year-old resident of the area and son of one of the attack’s victims, recounted: “When we entered the mosque after the Israeli bombing, we found no trace of anyone who was inside at the time. All of them were torn into pieces, there was no sign of anyone.”

They were all destroyed, Kraim told the Euro-Med Monitor team, and nobody could be found at first.

“We removed them one by one, carefully removing the bodies with our hands. The scene was beyond comprehension. For instance, we discovered my father’s lone leg, but no evidence of the rest of his body,” said the young man.

Mohammed Matar Jameel Al-Ghefari, 21, who lives close to the mosque and is the nephew of one of the massacre victims, told the Euro-Med Monitor team that  “A belt of fire was present before the mosque was targeted, and it ceased for a while until the imam began reciting the takbir inside the mosque, at which point the mosque was bombed.”

Euro-Med Monitor was able to identify 10 of the victims, including a young girl, a woman, and eight men, two of whom were elderly.

“Some victims remain unidentified as their bodies were torn apart or remain buried under the rubble,” the organization said.

‘Policy of Demolishing Mosques’

On the evening of Wednesday 15 November 2023, hours before Al-Hassan Mosque in the neighbourhood of Al-Tuffah was targeted, the Euro-Med Monitor team confirmed that Israeli warplanes had targeted the Ihya Al-Sunnah Mosque in Gaza City’s Sabra neighborhood. The mosque was attacked while worshippers were assembling between the Maghrib and Isha prayers, “resulting in the deaths of approximately 50 people and the injury of dozens.”

“The deliberate and pervasive Israeli policy of demolishing mosques in the Gaza Strip is part of an effort to eradicate all evidence of Palestinians living in the area, as well as the historical, cultural, and religious heritage that sets them apart as a people with a shared national identity,” said Euro-Med Monitor.

These crimes, the organization added, “particularly those that are intended to actually eradicate Palestinians in the Strip through a variety of internationally forbidden methods, are part of the genocide that Israel has been committing since October 2023.”

‘Crime of Genocide’

It noted that the “intentional destruction of cultural property, such as mosques and religious property” owned by members of the group, has been acknowledged by the International Criminal Court as proof of the existence of the specific intent to eradicate that group as a whole, which is regarded as a necessary component of the crime of genocide.

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The attack on Al-Hassan Mosque “was unexpected,” according to all of the Euro-Med Monitor team’s investigations, which also found that the Israeli occupation army had not issued any warnings or alerts before attacking the mosque in this area so densely populated with displaced people.

‘Full-Fledged War Crimes’

According to international humanitarian law, civilians who are unable or unwilling to leave a targeted area still have a protected status; their presence in the area does not negate this status, nor does it absolve Israel of its obligation to safeguard it.

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Given these facts, the Israeli occupation army’s military assault on Al-Hassan Mosque qualifies as either an indiscriminate attack or deliberate direct targeting, both of which are considered full-fledged war crimes under the Rome Statute.

This attack is also regarded as a crime against humanity because it took place during the course of the occupation army’s extensive and organised military campaign against the civilian population in the Gaza Strip, which has lasted for more than a year.

(The Palestine Chronicle)

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