GAZA, (PIC)
During nearly two hundred days of the ongoing Israeli genocidal war in the Gaza Strip, the toll of victims has not been limited to thousands of martyrs and thousands of destroyed homes. Mosques and places of worship have also been at the heart of Israeli barbaric targeting.
In this continuous genocide for over half a year, the occupation did not hesitate to commit various atrocities. So far, they have killed more than 34,000 civilians, including 14,000 children, and 10,000 women. They have injured over 77,000 people and caused the displacement of nearly 90% of the population. Additionally, hundreds of mosques have been targeted and demolished.
According to a report from Gaza’s Government Media Office, the occupation has demolished 233 mosques entirely and partially damaged 301 others. They also targeted and completely destroyed 3 churches.
On April 16th, Israeli airstrikes targeted the Al-Fakhoura Martyrs Mosque west of Jabalia refugee camp, resulting in the martyrdom and injury of several citizens. The Civil Defense Directorate indicated at the time that its teams were working to recover the martyrs’ bodies from under the rubble.
On the same day, Israeli warplanes bombed a mosque in the Al-Burouk neighborhood in Deir Al-Balah city in central Gaza Strip, causing extensive damage to the site. The mosque’s imam explained in a statement to the Palestinian Information Center that the occupation army destroyed the mosque without any justification, as the mosque was solely a place of worship. Moreover, its destruction led to massive damage to surrounding homes.
He emphasized that the Palestinian people would not leave their city despite the genocide, affirming that Israel is waging a war on everything in the Gaza Strip. Not a single day passes in this genocide without mosques being targeted and shelled in various areas of the Strip.
Religious war
In a previous statement, the spokesperson for the Al-Qassam Brigades, Abu Ubaida, addressed the deliberate targeting of mosques by the occupation army, leading to the destruction of most of them and causing the cessation of the call to prayer, which signals the time for prayer.
Abu Ubaida said, “We see it as our jihadist and religious duty to inform billions of Muslims around the world that the Zionist enemy, in one hundred days, destroyed most of the mosques in the Gaza Strip, defiled, burned, and bulldozed those reached by its vehicles on the ground, and stopped the call to prayer and prayers themselves, in a clear religious war, continuing what the Zionist religious gangs started in their war on Al-Aqsa Mosque.”
Israeli destruction also targeted the Great Omari Mosque in the center of Gaza City last December, one of the oldest and most venerable mosques in history.
The Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities explained at the time that the Israeli occupation’s destruction of the Omari Mosque in Gaza Strip is part of its plan to erase and destroy Palestinian national heritage. In a statement, it described this destruction as a direct assault on Palestinian cultural property, in violation of all international treaties and conventions, including the 1907 Hague Convention, the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949, and UNESCO conventions on the protection of cultural property.
The ministry emphasized that the destruction of the Omari Mosque, with a courtyard area of 1,190 square meters, constitutes a crime against heritage. This mosque is one of the most important archaeological and religious sites in the Gaza Strip, with a history spanning hundreds of years. It was initially established as a Byzantine monastery in the fifth century AD, then converted into a mosque to become part of the cultural fabric of the Palestinian people, bearing witness to the connection of the Palestinian people to their land.
The ministry added that this crime adds to other crimes committed by the Israeli occupation in its aggression against the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip, as it previously destroyed a number of archaeological sites and landmarks, such as the ancient Gaza port, the Church of St. Porphyrius, the Jabalia Mosque, and many historical buildings, museums, and others.
Massacres in mosques
Israel does not target mosques when they are empty of worshipers. Reports have documented Israeli warplanes bombing mosques with worshipers inside in various areas of the Gaza Strip, leading to the martyrdom of hundreds of worshipers.
Citizen Munir Abu Al-Atta (65 years old) explained to our correspondent that Israeli warplanes bombed the Al-Salam Mosque in Deir Al-Balah on October 14th immediately after the Maghrib prayer ended.
He explained that he left the mosque shortly before the bombing, but his only two sons, Ali and Mustafa, were in the mosque at the moment of the bombing, resulting in their martyrdom along with 25 worshipers.
He pointed out that the mosque was razed over the heads of the worshipers, and it took several days to recover the martyrs’ bodies, saying, “We retrieved the bodies of my sons in intervals and stages. It was moments of indescribable horror and pain.”
Mosque destruction in the context of genocide
Palestinian writer and academic Dr. Mohammad Al-Rantisi said, “The Crusaders destroyed many mosques, and the British destroyed many mosques in India, but the destruction of 533 mosques in a small area like the Gaza Strip is unprecedented in the history of mosque attacks during wars or armed conflicts, confirming that it is a systematic operation driven by determination and hidden intentions.”
In an article he wrote, the Palestinian Information Center quoted Al-Rantisi as saying that the destruction of mosques is also linked to the path of genocide for which Israel has been accused in the International Court of Justice, as mosques were also destroyed in the genocide in Bosnia.
Al-Rantisi explained that there is no doubt that the Israeli occupation recognizes the importance of the mosque and its status in the lives of Palestinians, considering it an integral part of their identity. In mosques, they perform their prayers, shape the identity of the fighting Palestinian, produce memorizers of the Quran, teach patience, steadfastness, and rejection of injustice, and all noble values. Hence, the occupation decided to target mosques, which it sees as factories of values and will.
Al-Jazeera journalist Ahmed Mansour questioned on his X account, “When Israel deliberately demolishes Muslim mosques directly… does this not confirm that it is a religious war against Islam and Muslims?”
In Khan Yunis city, south of the Gaza Strip, after the withdrawal of the occupation army from it after more than 4 months of the comprehensive ground attack, the Palestinian Information Center correspondent confirmed that the occupation army did not leave a single mosque without corruption and destruction.
He explained that all the mosques were either completely or partially destroyed, meaning they are unfit for worship. He noted that citizens, in a challenge, pray on the ruins of their destroyed mosques and raise the call to prayer above the roar of the aircraft.
