A video clip showing about ten bodies covered in blood, some with severe injuries causing heavy bleeding around the bodies, went viral on social media last Friday, November 3, just after 2:00 PM local time in occupied Palestine.
In the video, a young Palestinian man is seen crossing Al-Rashid Road in the southern section of Gaza City. This road is a major thoroughfare connecting the north and south of the Gaza Strip, and it is used by the displaced people to travel southward based on the occupation army's claims that the south of the strip is a safe area for its citizens.
As soon as these claims gained traction, American news outlets and pro-Israel accounts on social media asserted that the bodies found on Al-Rashid Road were killed by the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) gunfire, ostensibly to prevent them from fleeing to the south and to continue using them as "human shields."
Upon thorough examination of the widely circulated video and a review of both public and private Misbar sources, it becomes evident that the Israeli narrative is imprecise, and there are indications suggesting that the victims on Al-Rashid Road lost their lives due to artillery shelling by Israeli military vehicles.
Severe Injuries and Scattered Possessions of the Deceased on Al-Rashid Road
A thorough examination of the video reveals that the injuries on the bodies seem to align more with the effects of artillery fire rather than gunshot wounds. Particularly striking is a distressing scene in which a young girl experiences a severe head injury, causing her head to split open. Additionally, another scene depicts the scattered belongings of the displaced individuals, demonstrating substantial damage. These findings raise questions about the assertion that the victims were shot to death.
Israeli Tanks Stationed Alongside Al-Rashid Road
On November 3rd, the New York Times released a report detailing the Israeli forces' ground invasion into the southern Gaza Strip. The report included satellite images acquired from Planet Labs, a company with expertise in providing such services. These images, captured on the same morning, included a notable revelation: Israeli military vehicles positioned a mere 300 meters from Al-Rashid Road, a vital coastal route that links the northern and southern parts of the Gaza Strip.
Some Israeli newspapers have attempted to distance themselves from the narrative that the apparent victims in the video were killed as a result of Israeli airstrikes. They argued that the absence of craters at the site of the bodies and the lack of visible signs of damage from an airstrike indicated that the victims were killed by gunfire rather than by aerial bombings.
Nonetheless, satellite photos showing Israeli military vehicles in the area of the incident imply that Israeli tank artillery shelling was the cause of the deaths. This scenario provides a plausible explanation for the extensive damage observed on the bodies in the video, the explosion and dispersal of their personal belongings on the road, and the absence of a crater at the scene at the same time.
False Israeli Claims and Hamas Does Not Restrict Civilians from fleeing to the South
Concerning the Israeli occupation's claims that Hamas was responsible for shooting at the displaced civilians on Al-Rashid Road to prevent them from heading south, Misbar had debunked these allegations, finding no substantiating evidence. Various news outlets and media sources have extensively documented the displacement of hundreds of thousands of Gaza residents heading south since the beginning of the war. U.N. missions have confirmed that about 1.5 million people have been internally displaced within Gaza as of November 3.
Conversely, Misbar communicated with journalists and citizens who had fled to the south, immediately following the Israeli evacuation directives for northern Gaza residents. They all confirmed that Hamas had not imposed any restrictions on their movement.
Israel Shelled the Displaced People Heading to Southern Gaza
In the past, the Israeli occupation has not refrained from attacking the displaced people in the southern Gaza Strip, whether they were on their way to seek safety or even after reaching the area designated as "safe" by the occupation.
On October 14, following urgent appeals from the Israeli military to move southward within the Gaza Strip, the occupation launched missile strikes on convoys of displaced people on the main Salah Al-Din Road, killing 70 people and wounding 150 others.
As per a prior report by Misbar concerning the safety of the southern Gaza Strip region based on the Israeli occupation's assertions, it has become apparent that these claims were misleading. Media outlets had documented Israeli warplanes targeting civilian residences in the southern Gaza Strip, specifically in the cities of Rafah and Khan Yunis, on the morning of October 17. This tragic event resulted in the loss of a minimum of 80 lives.
Moreover, Misbar documented testimonies from witnesses stating that some of the victims were displaced from the northern Gaza Strip and Gaza City. Massacres carried out by the Israeli occupation included the murder of 11 members of the Al-Masri family, 21 members of the Al-Jabari family, 15 members of the Al-Lamadani family, and 4 members of the Brikh family. Data compiled by Misbar's field correspondents also revealed the deaths of 30 members of the Subh family.
Targeting an Ambulance in Front of Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza
News of these claims surfaced concurrently with an Israeli military operation targeting an ambulance convoy that was getting ready to move injured patients from Al-Shifa Hospital to the Egyptian border crossing at Rafah. The occupation acknowledged bombing an ambulance in front of the gate of Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza on November 3, justifying its actions by claiming that the ambulance was being used by a Hamas-affiliated cell.
The General Director of Hospitals in Gaza told Al Jazeera channel that there were dozens of martyrs and wounded individuals as a result of targeting the Al-Shifa Hospital’s gate.
In response, the Palestinian Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip, during a press conference held yesterday, stated that Israeli violations against the healthcare system had led to the loss of 136 healthcare personnel and the destruction of 25 ambulances, rendering them out of service.
The Ministry further emphasized the escalating impact of the Israeli aggression, which has killed 9,257 persons, including 3,826 children and 2,405 women, and caused injuries to 23,516 others with varying degrees of severity since the beginning of the conflict on October 7.
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