Reports of massacre of 76 members of one family in Gaza, widespread famine, bodied dug up by Israeli bulldozers and ‘mauled by dogs’
(WASHINGTON, D.C., 12/23/2023) – The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today called on Americans of all backgrounds to demand that the Biden administration act to “end the slaughter, starvation and ethnic cleansing” after reports that forces of the far-right Israeli government massacred 76 members of an extended family in Gaza, that Israeli-imposed famine is widespread and that bodies are decaying in the streets and are being dug up by Israeli bulldozers.
[NOTE: More than 110,000 Americans have used CAIR’s action alert to contact their members of Congress and call for an end to the violence and the renewal of U.S.-led efforts to end the occupation. SEE: Urge Your Members of Congress to Address Root Cause of Mideast Violence]
Associated Press reports that: “The Gaza City strike killed 76 people from the al-Mughrabi family, making it one of the deadliest of the war…the dead included women and children.”
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres posted on X (formerly Twitter) that, “Four out of five of the hungriest people anywhere in the world are in Gaza.”
CNN reports allegations that “Israeli soldiers raiding a hospital in northern Gaza desecrated the bodies of dead patients with bulldozers, let a military dog maul a man in a wheelchair, and shot multiple doctors even after vetting them for terror links.”
Dozens of unknown Palestinians whose bodies were left in the streets are being buried. “Most of the bodies recovered in Beit Lahia were executed in the streets and mauled by dogs,” said civil defense authorities.
In a statement, CAIR National Executive Director Nihad Awad said:
“Ordinary Americans of all backgrounds should demand that the Biden administration act to stop the Israeli apartheid government’s genocidal campaign in Gaza. Concrete actions – not just toothless resolutions – must be taken to end the slaughter, starvation and ethnic cleansing being imposed on the Palestinian people by Netanyahu’s apartheid government.”
Yesterday, CAIR called on the Biden administration to stop sending what it called “genocide bombs” to the far-right Israeli government after the New York Times revealed that U.S.-supplied 2,000-pound bombs were “routinely” used against Palestinian civilians in so-called “safe areas” in Gaza.
Also yesterday, CAIR said the Biden administration must stop “justifying war crimes” the Israeli government has perpetrated against hospitals after an investigation by the Washington Post debunked claims by the Netanyahu government’s “evidence” that Gaza’s Al Shifa Hospital had to be attacked because it was a military command center.
CAIR also called on the State Department and FBI to investigate the shooting and detention of a 13-year-old Palestinian-American boy by Israeli forces in the West Bank.
He noted CAIR said Israel’s new ethnic cleansing order, the bulldozing of bodies in a Gaza cemetery and the forced starvation of Palestinian children are the latest “Israeli car crimes of the day.”
CAIR joined calls for a United Nations investigation of the latest “Israeli war crime of the day” – allegations that Israeli forces in Gaza carried our summary executions of unarmed Palestinian men in front of their family members. Eyewitnesses are now coming forward to confirm these allegations.
Israel has now killed more than 20,000 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, and including hundreds of UN workers, journalists and medical personnel.
Earlier this week, CAIR condemned other “war crimes of the day,” including the reported mass killing of a Palestinian grandfather’s family in front of his eyes, vandalism of West Bank homes by Israeli forces, the deaths and alleged torture of Palestinian detainees, and more massacres in refugee camps and residential areas of Gaza.
Also this week, CAIR condemned a deadly Israeli strikes on a Gaza maternity hospital and other medical facilities, the killing of more than 100 people in a refugee camp and the killing of two Christians seeking shelter in a besieged church.
Pope Francis condemned Israel’s killing of two Christian women sheltering at a Catholic parish in Gaza, noting that “unarmed civilians are targets for bombs and gunfire.”
At least 110 people were killed in Israel’s bombing of Gaza’s Jabalia refugee camp.
Over the weekend, CAIR called for United Nations to investigate reports that Israeli forces in Gaza bulldozed medical tents with injured Palestinians inside, allegedly burying civilians alive and said that the Israeli military’s killing of three unarmed, shirtless Israelis waving a white flag is further proof that Israeli troops are “wantonly killing Palestinian civilians.”
Earlier today, CAIR said that the Israeli military’s killing of three unarmed, shirtless Israelis waving a white flag is further proof that Israeli troops are “wantonly killing Palestinian civilians.”
CAIR recently called on the Biden administration to respond to reports that Israel forces shot women, children and babies “execution-style” after they sought refuge in a school in Gaza.
CAIR condemned the attempted assassination of an Al Jazeera journalist (and the ultimate death of another) by Israeli forces, the desecration of Gaza cemeteries by Israeli troops in Gaza, and a deadly airstrike targeting a UN school in Gaza.
OTHER ISRAELI WAR CRIMES:
A new US intelligence assessment concluded that nearly half of the air-to-ground munitions that Israel has used in Gaza have been unguided, also known as “dumb bombs.” Unguided munitions are typically less precise and can pose a greater threat to civilians.
CAIR condemned the Israeli government’s celebration of IDF troops who took over and desecrated a mosque in the West Bank as an “attack on Islam.”
CAIR said the far-right Israeli government’s controlled demolition of a U.N. school in Gaza is “further evidence of the ongoing campaign of ethnic cleansing.”
Video posted online shows a man, reportedly with special needs, being detained by Israeli soldiers and then shot at point-blank range.
CAIR condemned an Israeli attack on another hospital in Gaza and said the Biden administration is actively participating in Israel’s “ethnic cleansing and genocide of the Palestinian people.”
CAIR condemned another “war crime of the day” – the slaughter of at least 50 civilians in airstrikes on two UN-run schools sheltering displaced Palestinians in Gaza.
CAIR recently called on the Biden administration to address reporting that the U.S. supplied the Israeli government with white phosphorus used in attacks on civilian areas.
The Israeli government’s extremist leaders have declared that there are no innocent civilians in Gaza, justified cutting off water, electricity and other basic necessities because Palestinians are ‘human animals,’ embraced an ancient biblical verse about the mass slaughter of an entire city from animals to infants, demanded a million residents of northern Gaza leave their homes or face death, and announced that the aim of the bombing in Gaza was destruction rather than accuracy.
CAIR said a new report by Heritage for Peace detailing Israel’s ongoing destruction of Palestinian cultural sites shows its desire to entirely “eliminate Palestinian existence.”
Washington, D.C., based CAIR questioned whether Western leaders even regard Palestinians as “human” after more than 700 women, children and men were massacred by Israel within just the last 24 hours.
CAIR condemned the “Israeli war crime of the day” after more than 100 men, women and children were killed in the bombing of residential buildings hosting displaced families in Gaza’s Jabalia refugee camp.
CAIR’s mission is to protect civil rights, enhance understanding of Islam, promote justice, and empower American Muslims.