Israeli forces use Palestinian child as human shield in Gaza

[DanTex]

Ahmad’s ordeal began on July 21, when Israeli tanks entered Khuza'a, a town where Israeli forces allegedly committed war crimes during the the ground invasion of the Gaza Strip. After two days of hiding at home, Ahmad’s family and neighbors attempted to flee intense artillery fire. As they tried to leave, however, Israeli soldiers assembled civilians, separating young men from others.

Ahmad was singled out, detained with his hands tied behind his back, and kicked and insulted by a soldier. His family was released, but lost sight of him as they fled the area.

In the days that followed, despite not being associated with Hamas, Ahmad was interrogated about his political affiliation and the location of Hamas tunnels. He managed to sleep for just two hours on the first night, sitting in a chair with his hands tied behind him. Every day he was made to search for tunnels, including at one point digging under the afternoon sun.

Speaking to DCI-Palestine, Ahmad said, "[The Captain and the soldiers] were walking behind me, with their rifles pointed at me. "Get in and see if there are tunnels or not," [the Captain] ordered me. They made me search all the rooms for tunnels. Whenever I told them there were no tunnels, they would take me out and search the room themselves."

http://www.dci-palestine.org/documents/israeli-forces-use-palestinian-child-human-shield-gaza

This is not the only report of IDF using Palestinian civilians as human shields. Here's another.

On the night of 6 June 2014, at least 11 Israeli soldiers have taken over the home of Mohamed Ayad (73) and Nejma Ayad (68), American citizens, in the village of Silwad, in the West Bank, and turned their home into a military outpost.

Video footage, photographs and witness statements indicate that Mohamed and Nejma Ayad posed no imminent threat to the Israeli forces that have entered and taken up positions in their home. The Israeli soldiers have forced the elderly couple to stay in the living room, effectively imprisoning them, while they use the rest of their house as a military observation and sniper position.

The Israeli army has a long and frequent pattern of taking over Palestinian civilians’ homes and holding their inhabitants as human shields while using the house as a military base.

The willful imprisonment and use of civilians as human shields by Israeli security forces as part of the occupation is a war crime. Israel has a responsibility to prosecute the forces who have take the home of the Ayads, and also those responsible for assigning the use of human shields, as this practice increases the risk to the Palestinian families concerned.

http://www.euromid.org/en/article/523/Israel:Use-of-Elderly-as-Human-Shield-Apparent-War-Crime

[Fred Sanders]

1. Actual for real human child shields are AOK as long as the right folks do it..so says the media, so

must you believe.

These children serve a higher purpose, to shield Israeli's from the heathen hordes on the other side, using one of "them" in the cause is fully justified, just ignore the clear hypocrisy please...notice who shoots at the shields and who does not.

[Shaktimaan]

7. So says what media?

Using human shields is against both intl and Israeli law; violating even IDF military regulations.

Clearly there are war crimes being committed by Israeli soldiers. No ones defending this, are they?

Is this a widespread practice that the army "ignores" while secretly endorsing it? Because there's not much of a point to posting "Israeli soldiers use human shields!" if you're only talking about random, sparse instances.

What's hypocritical here? Using human shields is always a war crime, it's never justifiable regardless of which side does it.

[Fred Sanders]

8. The IDF fought and lost in the Supreme Court to use human shields, remember that!

How is that random and sparse? Really, you need to shake off the propaganda.

[Shaktimaan]

9. It was 10 years ago.

In the past few years it's happened maybe a dozen times. The soldiers in question were indicted afterwards.

Israel's courts ruled this as illegal. Trying to draw false equivalency between Hamas, who uses shields as an integral part of its defensive strategy and Israel, which unequivocally ruled against it, reads as intellectually dishonest.

Regardless, it does nothing to refute my point anyway. If those civilians that the IDF used as shields when searching houses triggered a booby trap and were killed as a result, would you blame the Palestinians who laid the trap, or the soldiers who had him trigger it? I would blame the soldiers, as would the laws of war as I understand them.

[Fred Sanders]

10. All righty then, so you say they only did a few times, though many more if not stopped. Maybe

you should have mentioned that earlier while expressing your condemnation of the other side.

The IDF still detests and ignores the law, international or domestic.

[Shaktimaan]

12. So then who is responsible...

For the welfare of those civilians Israel used as cover from attacks? If they were killed, would their deaths be Israel's fault or the militant who shot them?

Would Hamas have the right to attack those Israeli positions, in the homes of civilians, or did the IDF soldiers' illegal actions grant them "immunity" regardless?

This isn't meant as a blanket justification for all of Israel's attacks throughout Gaza. I'm trying to establish what your train if thought is, given the clearest of circumstances.

[4now]

2. I am no longer surprised at the scale of Israeli atrocities.

End Israeli apartheid:
Boycott, Divest, Sanction.
http://www.bdsmovement.net/

[King_David]

3. You should boycott Apple, you personally.

And everyone else who feels so strongly. Divest too.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/113478965

[4now]

5. The Boycott, Divestment and Sanction movement is getting bigger everyday.

End Israeli apartheid:
Boycott, Divest, Sanction.
http://www.bdsmovement.net/

[King_David]

4. Novartis to invest in Israel's Gamida Cell, could buy out company

JERUSALEM Tue Aug 19, 2014 5:36am EDT

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/08/19/us-novartis-gamidacell-idUSKBN0GJ0QT20140819

[4now]

6. Death toll in Gaza - 217 were armed militants - 1396 were Palestinian civilians

Of those, 222 were women and 418 were children.
This is from Washington Post Gaza counter.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/special/world/gaza-counter/

217 were armed Palestinian militants. Of those, 2 were children.
1396 were Palestinian civilians. Of those, 222 were women and 418 were children.
277 Palestinians had an unknown role.

The IDF does a very good job of killing civilians but mostly innocent children.

[Fred Sanders]

11. The math does not lie, it is irrefutable, you will get no response or the response of "so you want

kill Israelis also"...childish gibberish in return. Irrefutable stuff is like that.