Israel destroyed 800-year-old mosque in Beit Hanoun

[sonz]

Israel has completely destroyed An-Nasr mosque in the northern Gaza town of Beit Hanoun, a historic mosque that was built 800 years ago, according to UN Observer & International Report.

The imam of the mosque, Sheikh Shihda Abu Zreiq, said the Israeli forces ruined “the house of God", built in the year 637 according to the Islamic calendar, following the historic battle of “Um An-Nasr" fought between the Sultan Mahmoud Qutob’s army and the Crusaders in the area lying between Gaza City and Asqalan (today's Ashkelon).

Muslims achieved victory in the historic battle.

Destroying places of worship during military conflicts is a War Crime, as specified by the Geneva Conventions. Article 16-"Protection of cultural objects and of places of worship states that" “it is prohibited to commit any acts of hostility directed against historic monuments, works of art or places of worship which constitute the cultural or spiritual heritage of peoples, and to use them in support of the military effort.”

The destruction of An Nasr mosque in Beit Hanoun by the Israeli occupation forces was part of a new crime by the Israelis in the occupied Palestinian territories, which resulted in the deaths of scores of innocent civilians, many of them women and children.

Last Wednesday, Israeli tanks fire attacked Palestinians in their homes in Beit Hanoun, a day after Israeli troops withdrew from the town following a week-long offensive.

The massacre left 19 people, members of an extended family, killed, & pools of bloodstained water outside the houses of innocent families.

The UN Security Council was supposed to convene Saturday to vote on the resolution drafted by Qatar to condemn Israel’s shelling of Beit Hanoun in Gaza, which killed 19 Palestinian civilians.

The condemnation has been softened from its original version, but experts expect the United States to exercise its veto power against it.