This document presents a testimony of a mass deportation of 110 Palestinians, who were taken from the Gaza Strip and left to fend for themselves in the Sinai Peninsula, as well as a punitive house demolition operation in the Gaza Strip, shortly after its occupation in June 1967. This testimony is contained in a memorandum written by Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials, Yaakov Avnon and Avner Arazi, regarding details they heard from the military governor of the Gaza Strip, Lieut. Col. Haim Gaon. The discussion took place the day after the events described in the memorandum, just a few days after the Six Day War ended.
In the meeting, Lieut. Col. Gaon told Avnon and Arazi about some tracks found near the site of a mine that had exploded near Gaza, and led the military to some houses in a nearby refugee camp. The soldiers demanded the occupants turn in whoever was responsible. A while later, 110 people, who Gaon says identified themselves as members of the Palestine Liberation Army, turned up and collectively took responsibility for the exploding mine. For three hours, the 110 stood fast, refusing to say who carried out the explosion, though they were cautioned they would be punished. “When they did not respond by the ultimatum’s deadline, a decision was made to remove them to the Sinai desert and leave them be!”. The foreign affairs officials carefully added that “The punishment seems to have been implemented since”.
In addition to the mass deportation, the IDF blew up eight homes to which, it was alleged, the tracks had led. This was a punishment for the occupants of the homes, who apparently also refused to obey the demand to turn in the people who had laid the mine. This is the earliest record of which we are aware of punitive house demolitions in the 1967 Occupied Territories.
