On this day in 1956, Moshe Dayan ordered the shelling of Gaza City's centre with 120mm mortars, killing 58 civilians and four Egyptian soldiers.

israeli soldiers under Dayan’s command invaded Gaza and carried out mass killings in Khan Younis and Rafah. Hundreds of males over the age of 15 were lined up in public, beaten and shot dead in front of their friends and relatives to crush armed resistance. The UN recorded 275 Palestinians killed in Khan Younis and 111 in Rafah.