Ynet’s Hebrew correspondent, Yossi Melman, revealed on Friday the secret that has been kept secret for 55 years, which is the killing of 20 Egyptian soldiers who were burned during the 1967 war and were buried in an unmarked mass grave.
Melman said that the Israeli military commander participating in that operation, Zain Baloch, who is now 90 years old, informed him of the incident, as he was a commander of the 122nd (Nahshon) Squadron, which witnessed that war.
“After 55 years of heavy censorship, I can reveal that at least 20 Egyptian soldiers were burned alive and buried by the IDF in a mass grave” during the 1967 Six-Day War, Millman wrote on Twitter.
He pointed out that not marking the cemetery without identifying the Egyptian soldiers is a violation of the laws of war, as he put it.
Melman added: “Days before the war, (Egyptian President Gamal) Abdel Nasser signed a defense agreement with (Jordanian King) Hussein. Egypt deployed two battalions of commandos in the West Bank near (the area of) Latrun… Their mission was to raid Israel and seize ( Al-Lydda area and the nearby military airports.”
1/7 Breaking News: After 55 years of heavy censorship, I can reveal that at least 20 Egyptian soldiers were burnt alive and buried by IDF in a mass grave, which wasn’t marked&without being identified contrary to war laws, in Latrun. It happened during the Six Day’s War>>> pic.twitter.com/mMe3LGIAoz
— Yossi Melman (@yossi_melman) July 7, 2022
He said that following “exchanging fire with IDF soldiers and members of Kibbutz Nahshon, some Egyptian forces escaped, some were taken captive, and some fought bravely. At one point, the IDF fired mortar shells and set fire to thousands of uncultivated acres of wild bush in the summer.” dry”.
He continued, “At least 20 Egyptian soldiers were killed in the bush fire. The fire spread quickly in the hot and dry bush, and they had no chance to escape. The next day IDF soldiers equipped with a bulldozer came to the scene and dug a hole and pushed the Egyptian bodies and covered them with soil. “.
Melliman pointed out that Bloch, who was the commander of the 122nd Squadron (Nahshon), and others watched horribly, soldiers looting their personal belongings and leaving the mass grave unmarked.
In the 1967 war, which was a major part of the Arab-Israeli conflict, the Arab forces of which the Egyptian army was an essential part were defeated, as Israel managed to annex the West Bank and the Golan Heights fell to Israel.
Melman quotes Bloch as saying following the lifting of military censorship that “silence suits everyone. The few who knew did not want to talk regarding it. We were ashamed. But above all it was the decision of the Israeli army in the midst of the war.”
Melliman pointed out that unclassified official military documents omit the Latrun tragedy.
Although the two sides committed war crimes in the Arab-Israeli conflict, says Melman, but he said that “real democracy must face its past.”
