Israeli army bulldozes cemetery in Gaza City
Exclusive video obtained by Al Jazeera shows bodies strewn around the streets in Gaza City’s Shujayea neighbourhood, as fighting there continues.
Residents of the area, where Israeli forces have been conducting an intense ground operation for the last several days, reported that upon their return to their partially destroyed homes, they found graves exhumed and the cemetery completely bulldozed.
This is not the first time the Israeli army has been accused of desecrating graveyards. In January, video captured a destroyed cemetery in southern Gaza’s Khan Younis, with the telltale marks of bulldozer treads in the dirt on top of what were previously graves.
Fighting rages across Gaza City
Al Jazeera’s correspondent in the Gaza Strip reports that Israeli army has expanded its military operation against the city, which has been continuing for the better part of two weeks, to the al-Rimal neighbourhood, in the southwest.
Our correspondent adds that fierce clashes are taking place between the Israeli troops that have penetrated the southwestern part of the city and Palestinian fighters, and that Israeli army helicopters were seen landing in the area, believed to be evacuating casualties.
In addition, the al-Quds Bridages, the armed wing of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, says in a statement that its members are fighting “from point-blank range” with Israeli troops inside in the Shujayea neighbourhood, where this round of fighting in Gaza City began.
It also claims to have detonated explosives against Israeli army vehicles.
Al-Quds Brigades claims series of attacks on Israeli military in Shujayea
The armed wing of Palestinian Islamic Jihad has said its fighters:
- Clashed with Israeli special forces inside a house in the Shujayea neighbourhood, east of Gaza, killing and injuring an unspecified number.
- Detonated explosives against Israeli military vehicles in the same neighbourhood.
- Killed an Israeli soldier with sniper fire in the vicinity of Tallet al-Mantar, east of Shujayea.
