Soldiers of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) found a Jewish grave in recent operations in central Gaza in a British cemetery devoted to soldiers that fell during the First World War, and recited the kaddish, the Jewish prayer for the dead, for the soldier.
VINNews.com reported:
IDF forces operating in the central Gaza region of Al-Muazi located the tomb of a Jewish soldier who fell fighting during the first world war in the region. The soldiers decided to say Kaddish for the soldier and for other Jewish soldiers buried in the WWI cemetery. Gunfire can be heard in the background during the recitation of Kaddish.
קדיש על קברו של לוחם יהודי בריטי ממלחמת העולם הראשונה בלב עזה.
— גלילאו (@GilBitan) January 12, 2024
צמרמורת pic.twitter.com/UiBElMOrUy
The soldiers draped the grave in an Israeli flag and recited prayers of mourning, which are thought to elevate the soul of the deceased in the afterlife.
The cemetery, known as the Deir el-Balah War Cemetery, is one of several British cemeteries in what used to be the British Mandate of Palestine, and one of two in Gaza — the other being the Gaza War Cemetery in northern Gaza.
It was first dedicated to those who fell in Allied battles against the Ottoman Empire.
It is described by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC):
The cemetery was begun towards the end of March and remained in use until March 1919. Most of the burials were made either from field ambulances from March to June 1917, or from the 53rd, 54th, 66th and 74th Casualty Clearing Stations, and the 69th General Hospital, from April 1917 until the Armistice with Turkey. A number of graves, the majority of which were originally at Khan Yunus, were brought into the cemetery after the Armistice.
According to Tablet magazine, there are seven Jewish graves in the cemetery, and three in the Gaza War Cemetery.
Jews fought in various militaries during the First World War, including on the German side. Zionist leaders also convinced the British to create a Jewish Legion of volunteers from Jewish communities in what was then Palestine.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the 2021 e-book, “The Zionist Conspiracy (and how to join it),” now updated with a new foreword. He is also the author of the recent e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
