Sworn affidavits on Israel’s use of Palestinian civilians as human shields

Sworn affidavits on Israel’s use of Palestinian civilians as human shields

01/08/2014 - 06:01 PM ]

KHAN YOUNIS, (PIC)-- Sworn affidavits revealing Israel’s use of Palestinian detainees as human shields throughout the incursions launched east of the Gaza Strip have been released by ex-prisoners at a time when the Israeli occupation has been pointing the finger at Hamas. At a time when the Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu has been accusing Hamas of using Palestinians as human shields, Palestinian youngster Bakroun Al Najjar, 19, confirmed that the Israeli occupation forces rounded him up from his home in Khuzaa before summoning him to sit on the front facade of an invading tank. “A state of unbearable panic overwhelmed me as I took notice of the heavy gunshots and shells that rocked the invaded area. Each and every mortar signaled an impending death for me.” The eye-witness confirmed that he has neither been the first nor the last to be used by the Israeli invading troops as a human shield throughout the round of incursions. He said the Israeli army lost its temper with every further doze of horror inculcated in them by the Palestinian resistance. Said Abu Rida’s statement was not better off as the latter was beaten up by the occupation soldiers and used as a shield all along a round of Israeli assaults launched on Palestinian homes. “The moment was extremely terrifying. The soldiers put me in the front seat while they have been hiding inside of the tank.” Old policy renewedSuch an Israeli crime has not been the only one of its kind as similar cases had been detected during former Israeli campaigns in the West Bank and Gaza, the most notorious of which were documented in the 2008 and 2009 Israeli offensives, when innocent Palestinian civilians were used as protective coverings. The most shocking case occurred as the Israeli occupation forced a Palestinian child to search civilian homes in Tel al-Hawa, southwest of Gaza, and ordered him to examine mysteriously bomb-planted materials, human rights activists documented. Flagrant infringements Human rights activist Yasser Abu al-Ghafour said the use of civilians as human shields is the most blatant violation of the decrees of international humanitarian laws, which do categorically sanction any such jeopardy against civilians’ lives. Article 28 of the Fourth Geneva Convention strictly prohibits the use of any person as “bulletproof vests” and rules for the compulsory neutralization of civilians in any armed offensive.