Editing Qibya massacre (section)

== The attack ==
According to the Mixed Armistice Commission report, approved on the afternoon immediately following the operation, and delivered by Major General [[Vagn Bennike]] to the UN Security Council, the raid at Qibya took place on the evening of 14 October 1953 at around 9.30 pm, and was taken by roughly half a [[battalion]] strength of soldiers from the Israeli regular army. Later sources state the force consisted of 130 [[Israel Defense Forces|IDF]] troops of whom a third came from [[Unit 101]].<ref>Morris, Benny (1993) ''Israel's Border Wars, 1949 – 1956. Arab Infiltration, Israeli Retaliation, and the Countdown to the Suez War''. Oxford University Press, {{ISBN|0-19-827850-0}}. Page 246.</ref> The American chairman of the Mixed Armistice Commission in his report to the UN Security Council estimated that between 250 and 300 Israeli soldiers were involved in the attack.<ref>Hutchinson, E.H. (1958) ''[https://archive.org/details/violenttrucearab006617mbp Violent Truce: A Military Observer Looks at The Arab-Israeli Conflict 1951–1955]'' Devin-Adair Co. New York. Page 161.</ref> The raid was personally led by future Israeli Prime Minister [[Ariel Sharon]], who at the time was a [[Major (rank)|Major]] in the IDF and the commander of Unit 101.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Creveld|first=Martin van|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MOyVBgAAQBAJ&pg=PT36|title=Moshe Dayan|date=2015-04-30|publisher=Orion|isbn=978-1-78022-752-8|language=en}}</ref>

The attack began with a [[Mortar (weapon)|mortar]] barrage on the village until Israeli forces reached the outskirts of the village. Israeli troops employed [[Bangalore torpedoes]] to breach the barbed-wire fences surrounding the village, and [[Land mine|mined]] roads to prevent Jordanian forces from intervening. At the same time at least 25 mortar shells were fired into the neighbouring village of [[Budrus]]. The Israeli troops simultaneously entered the village from three sides. IDF soldiers encountered resistance from soldiers and village guards, and in the gunbattle that followed, 10–12 soldiers and guards defending the village were killed and an Israeli soldier was lightly wounded. Military engineers dynamited dozens of buildings across the village, killing scores of civilians. In the words of historian [[Rashid Khalidi]], the operation “blew up forty-five homes with their inhabitants inside."<ref>Khalidi, Rashid. ''The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine: A History of Settler Colonialism and Resistance, 1917-2017''. Ebook edition. London: Profile Books, 2020, 175.</ref> At dawn, the operation was considered complete, and the Israelis returned home.<ref>[http://www.ariel-sharon-life-story.com/03-Ariel-Sharon-Biography-1953-Retribution-Acts-Peulot-Tagmul.shtml Ariel Sharon – Biography: 1953 Retribution Acts (Pe'ulot Tagmul)] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090927144747/http://www.ariel-sharon-life-story.com/03-Ariel-Sharon-Biography-1953-Retribution-Acts-Peulot-Tagmul.shtml |date=27 September 2009 }}</ref>

Ariel Sharon later wrote in his diary that he had received orders to inflict heavy damage on the Arab Legion forces in Qibya: "The orders were utterly clear: Qibya was to be an example for everyone." Original documents of the time showed that Sharon personally ordered his troops to achieve "maximal killing and damage to property", and post-operational reports speak of breaking into houses and clearing them with grenades and shooting.<ref name="Bm1">Benny Morris, ''Israel's Border Wars'', ibid. pp. 257–276. esp. pp.249,262</ref> UN observers noted that they observed bodies near doorways, and bullet marks on the doors of demolished houses, and later concluded that residents might have been forced by heavy fire to stay in their homes.<ref name="S/PV.630"/>