Again at Prayer After Suhur, 500 Palestinian Worshippers Fired Upon by Israeli Troops
Fatima Hamis al-Jabari came to the Ibrahim Mosque with her husband and two children to perform congregational dawn prayers during Ramadan. As on previous mornings, they arrived with faith and prayers in their hearts, without any sense of impending tragedy.
They then took their places in their respective rows with other worshippers. Fatima stood in the women’s section, whilst her husband and children were in the men’s section.
As prayer began, the mosque fell silent. The prayer hall was filled only with the imam’s calm and soothing recitation of sacred verses.
However, this tranquility lasted only minutes. Suddenly, gunfire shattered the solemnity.
Immediately, screams and panic echoed throughout. Fatima startled and rushed to find her husband amidst the chaos as worshippers scattered in all directions.
Tragically, what she found would be a lifelong wound. Her husband’s body lay sprawled on the mosque floor, covered in blood. Her child was wounded nearby.
“When the shooting started, my husband tried to protect our youngest son, Sari, who was eight years old. Suleiman was shot in the back and the bullet went through his body and hit Sari. My husband died, Sari’s insides came out and we thought he would die too, but he survived after being hospitalised for a month,” Fatima told Al Jazeera.
The tragedy that befell Fatima and her family that morning became part of a momentous dark chapter in the history of Israeli occupation of Palestinian land. This was the massacre at the Ibrahim Mosque in Hebron on 25 February 1994, exactly 34 years ago today.
Shot by Troops
The massacre lasted approximately 10 minutes and is known as one of the shortest but deadliest tragedies in the history of Israeli occupation. Of the roughly 500 worshippers at prayer, 29 were killed and 150 wounded.
After the situation subsided, it was revealed that the perpetrator was a soldier and military doctor named Baruch Goldstein. Goldstein died at the scene after being attacked by the worshippers.
According to BBC International, Goldstein was an Israeli citizen born in the United States. He moved to Israel in 1983 and joined as a military doctor.
He was known to hold anti-Arab and ultra-nationalist views influenced by the teachings of extremist rabbi Meir Kahane. The tragedy shocked the international community as it occurred amid discussions of Israel-Palestine peace talks and involved an active soldier as the perpetrator.
Unfortunately, because Goldstein died at the scene, his exact motives could never be directly established. According to an official investigation report cited by the New York Times titled “That Day in Hebron – A special report; Soldier Fired at Crowd, Survivors of Massacre Say”, the official findings stated that Goldstein acted alone and there were no affiliated associates.
Furthermore, 115 bullet casings were found at the scene. However, only 109 casings came from Goldstein’s rifle. The remaining casings came from two soldiers at the scene who fired to defuse the situation.
“Five additional casings came from a Galil rifle belonging to two soldiers who fired some shots as Arab worshippers began running out of the sacred site, the Cave of the Patriarchs,” the report stated.
Nevertheless, one witness revealed that the bullets fired by those soldiers were directed at the worshippers. Regardless of the accuracy of this testimony, the incident sparked outrage among the Muslim community and Palestine supporters worldwide. This was because it occurred whilst people were in solemnly performing prayer during the holy month of Ramadan.
Nearly all countries condemned the incident. The UN Security Council quickly convened and issued a resolution.
However, as before, these various condemnations did not halt the occupation. Israeli massacres continued to occur in subsequent periods.