Israel filed a preliminary report today with the International Red Cross on the murder and torture of Israeli POWs in Egypt. Foreign Ministry Assistant Director General Mordechai Kidron presented the report to Red Cross representative in Israel, Michel Con-vers, and asked him to transmit it to Geneva. At the same time, the report was passed onto the Israel UN Mission in New York to be handed to Secretary General Kurt Waldheim for distribution.
The report–based on evidence of returning POWs–lists 28 cases of attested murder of POWs. It also speaks of atrocities and tortures both at the time of captivity, during transportation to prison, and in prison itself. Foreign Ministry officials said the report–and the 28 figure–is by no means exhaustive and there would be more reports and more attested cases as the evidence was collated from the returned POWs.
One episode for Instance, not included in this first preliminary report, concerned a strong point which surrendered on the Suez Canal. The Egyptians bayonetted all Israeli soldiers lying on the ground around the strong point. Some were already dead, and some–an undetermined number to date–were killed by these indiscriminate bayonet stabs.
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