Khan Yunis Massacre

Before the 1956 Sinai War, Egypt controlled the Gaza Strip.[2] Palestinian refugee raiding and cross-border attacks by Egyptian-controlled irregulars and commandos—including terrorist raids by state-organized fedayeen—were major features of Israeli-Arab relations between 1949 and 1956 and among the chief causes of Israel’s invasion of Sinai and Gaza.[3]

Khan Yunis had also been the site of an earlier Israeli reprisal: in late August 1955, following Egyptian fedayeen terrorist attacks from Gaza, Israeli forces attacked and destroyed the town’s police headquarters.[3][4] The casualty figures associated with that operation—72 Egyptians killed and 58 wounded—concern the 1955 attack, not the November 1956 killings.[4]

The Sinai Campaign lasted from 29 October to 5 November 1956.[5] Israel launched Operation Kadesh against Egypt, partly coinciding with the Anglo-French Suez Campaign; its stated military objectives included destroying fedayeen bases in Gaza, disrupting Egypt’s ability to attack Israel, and opening the Gulf of Eilat to Israeli shipping.[5] Israeli forces entered the Gaza Strip on 1 November, and the Egyptian-controlled territory capitulated within three days.[6] After the capture of Rafah, the operation to take Gaza, Khan Yunis, and Beit Hanun began on 2 November and was completed the following day.[5]

The fighting affected a population heavily dependent on relief services: more than 213,000 people, comprising over two-thirds of the Strip’s population, were refugees receiving UNRWA rations.[1] Fighting and curfew prevented the normal ration distribution from beginning on 1 November.[1]

Israeli troops occupied Khan Yunis and the adjacent UNRWA camp on the morning of 3 November 1956, and many civilians were killed during the incident.[1] Palestinian National Guard forces had offered strong resistance in Khan Yunis during the takeover.[7]

Lists supplied to UNRWA’s Director by people he considered trustworthy named 275 people allegedly killed in Khan Yunis on 3 November: 140 refugees and 135 local residents.[1] The lists distinguished refugee casualties from those among the town’s local residents.[1]

In a later interview, a Khan Yunis resident named Barbakh pointed to places outside Barquq Castle where, he said, Israeli troops had left dozens of bodies.[8] He also showed photographs of two brothers whom he said had been killed during the unrest.[8]

Israeli military rule followed the conquest of Gaza, with judicial and administrative powers transferred to the army.[6] Relief distribution resumed on 5 November after the curfew was lifted for six hours during the day; by 15 November, rations had been made available for every refugee.[1]

Further deaths occurred elsewhere in the Gaza Strip during the occupation.[1] A separate incident took place at the Rafah refugee camp on 12 November during an Israeli screening operation.[1] Lists submitted to UNRWA’s Director named 111 people allegedly killed there: 103 refugees, seven local residents, and one Egyptian.[1] Another list named 66 people allegedly killed in smaller incidents across Gaza between 1 and 21 November, including 48 refugees; these names were separate from the Khan Yunis and Rafah lists.[1] Those smaller incidents included deaths during fighting, incidents connected with curfew breaches, and accidental deaths.[1]

Israeli forces left Gaza on 8 March 1957, and Egyptian control returned.[6] The withdrawal took place under international pressure, including pressure from the United States.[2]

The principal disagreement concerns whether the killings occurred during continuing resistance or after resistance had ceased.[1] Israeli authorities said Palestinian refugees participated in resistance; refugees said Israeli troops killed unarmed civilians while searching the town and camp for men with weapons.[1] A later Israeli army account described approximately 4,000 Egyptian soldiers, fedayeen, and Palestinian combatants remaining in Gaza, many in civilian clothing, and attributed civilian harm to clashes and difficulty distinguishing combatants from uninvolved civilians.[8] A Khan Yunis resident instead described the incident as punishment for the intensity of the resistance.[8]

The exact casualty total remains unknown, and the 275 names did not constitute an individually verified final toll.[1] UNRWA’s information came from limited sources, including employee eyewitnesses; restrictions imposed by Israeli authorities prevented United Nations Truce Supervision Organization officers from investigating casualties.[1] The casualty lists were incomplete, and some early burials were unidentified.[1]

Broader estimates of approximately 1,000 Palestinian deaths attributed to Arab sources, approximately 200 casualties attributed to Israeli military reports, and 440–550 fatalities attributed to UN estimates concern the Gaza occupation as a whole, not Khan Yunis alone.[7] The later paper presenting those figures supplied no supporting citations alongside them.[7]