Video: Israeli soldiers destroy Gaza mosque, dedicate explosion to dead comrades

This video uploaded to YouTube on 31 July is titled in Hebrew “Israeli army forces detonate a mosque with 11 tons of explosives.”

The Israeli soldiers apparently from the Givati brigade dedicate the mosque destruction to their fallen comrades and cheer as a massive explosion obliterates it.

“Long live the State of Israel!” a voice exclaims.

According to the narration by the videographer, the detonation took place on 30 July in Khuzaa, which is east of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip.

Human rights groups have already condemned Israel’s targeting of civilian homes, hospitals, mosques and other civilian objects as illegal.

This video, which suggests soldiers may have intended to destroy the mosque as a reprisal, could be evidence of a specific war crime that the soldiers documented themselves.

Atrocities in Khuzaa

Khuzaa is an area where Palestinians have still been unable to recover all the bodies of loved ones killed in Israeli attacks.

ITV journalist Rageh Omaar, who visited the area on Friday, found a neighborhood that “had almost been completely obliterated, looking like a post-apolcalyptic scene.”

“The stench of decomposing bodies filled the whole area,” Omaar said, as Palestinians returning to the area for the first time in three weeks during a short-lived “humanitarian ceasefire” began to recover bodies from the ruins.

The Daily Beast’s Jesse Rosenfeld reported that he saw decomposing bodies gathered in a bathroom of a house on the edge of Khuzaa amid “haunting signs of what looks like the summary execution of several Palestinians.”

Dedicated to dead Israeli soldiers

But for the Israeli soldiers destroying Khuzaa, the violence is cause for celebration.

This is the full transcript and translation, by Dena Shunra, of what the videographer says:

Khirbat Khuzaa, 30 July 2014, Operation Tzuk Eitan.

We’re waiting for the explosion of something like eleven tons of explosive above – and below – the ground.

This explosion is dedicated to the memory of the three people from the battalion who have fallen since the beginning of the operation – Amit Yeori of blessed memory, Guy Boylend of blessed memory, and Moshiko Dvino, of blessed memory.

The battalion has been fighting in the operation since it started, under task force 84 – a Givati brigade task force.

In the front you can see the mosque, where there is a shaft of a significant tunnel, which will also be part of the overall explosion that will be audible in a few seconds – throughout the village.

In these moments the commander of the battalion is giving the commands over the communication network of the brigade, the network of the battalion, and in a few seconds an explosion will be heard.

[1:26 - a victory shout is heard, with cheers and applause]

Long live the State of Israel!

Comments

Savages. The IDF are savages

Permalink maggie replied on Sun, 08/03/2014 - 15:48

Savages. The IDF are savages.

Same story - Destruction of Syria - destruction of Palestine

Permalink Michael replied on Tue, 08/05/2014 - 09:04

No difference between these bandits and those of Al Nusra / ISIS / ISIL / FSA when destroying Christian places of worship in Syria. I am saddened by these hateful actions and also of the role played by Palestinians in the destruction of Syria, the one country that had consistently offered them refuge, equality and true support.

g Netanyahu and the commanders of these atrocities to ICC

Permalink Ellen Cantarow replied on Mon, 08/04/2014 - 02:02

Pinochet, Rios Montt, the Boers in white South Africa, the Indonesians in their genocide of the East Timorese.. Zero difference between them and Netanyahu, and his commanders, nor between the festive neo-nazi Israeli youth celebrating the genocide with popcorn and other festivities, and gang-thrashing the few Israeli Jewish protestors, from Germany's brown-shirts. The major war criminals all should - that is hardly "will," I'm well aware - be tried at the ICC for crimes against humanity. It would be nice if Obama, who enables all this, plus our sainted Senate who unanimously voted to send more to bulk up Israel's killing machines for the Gaza killing fields, and all but 8 House representatives, could also be brought to some court of justice, but that's just fantasy. What is going on is one of the major war crimes of the past half-century. The US and Israel are the perpetrators. Hamas? It is a resistance against Israel's blockade and occupation. I don't like Hamas, but it was democratically elected by the Palestinian majority for which, for their pains, Gaza's population was collectively punished (also a war crime) starting with the 2006 blockade.

Remember Gaza

Permalink mjh replied on Mon, 08/04/2014 - 10:08

Remember Gaza
MJH
You dance the dance of death
You fight the fight of life
You laugh the laugh of wrath
And teach the world eternal right
You dance the dance of death

Legends will be made, stories will be told
Your acts of today, the world writes in gold.
You dance the dance of death
You fight the fight of life

See the child stand stare
Flashing eyes fire tear
“I am the warrior,
Never tire or fear
I am the warrior
Wherever oppression’s there
Whenever oppression’s near
I dance the dance of death
I fight the fight of life”

Time thunders on and on
“Alexander Macedon,
O’ Khaled Mukhduom
Makes your glory look so tame
A child, woman, and a man
Gaza, Gaza, is the name”
They rewrite the game of doom.

Your chains are not of bondages
Heroics of all ages
As you take a step upright
Cowards are all put to fright
Not a bit of honour in them.
Humanity devoid of shame
You laugh the laugh of wrath

You know no defeat, you care no victory
In the chains, in the chains still you are free
You dance the dance of history
You fight the fight for peace

You laugh the laugh delight
Teach the world eternal right
Show the world eternal light
You sing the song of life.