AFP: Israeli army uses women, kids as human shields
AFP | 16.05.2003 09:49
"I joined three girls, aged four, six and nine, and a very distressed woman who were not allowed to leave the scene of the fighting and forced to sit on the floor against a wall facing the targeted building," she told AFP, declining to divulge her surname. "Palestinian men were then brought out of the building, handcuffed and forcibly thrown to the ground," before the assault was completed, she said.
Israeli army uses women, kids as human shields
Israeli troops used Palestinian civilians, including young children, as human shields in an operation on Wednesday to capture wanted militants in the West Bank city of Jenin, witnesses said.
An AFP correspondent said an undercover unit of soldiers dressed as Palestinians moved into the centre of the autonomous city and stopped two civilian cars less than 100 metres away from the house sheltering the militants.
The soldiers forced some of the occupants out of one and used the vehicle to approach the house before opening fire on the building, near the central hospital.
Ewa, a 24-year-old Polish-British woman volunteering with various local humanitarian organisations, said she approached the scene of the clashes when she heard the first shots being fired.
"I joined three girls, aged four, six and nine, and a very distressed woman who were not allowed to leave the scene of the fighting and forced to sit on the floor against a wall facing the targeted building," she told AFP, declining to divulge her surname. "Palestinian men were then brought out of the building, handcuffed and forcibly thrown to the ground," before the assault was completed, she said.
"I was briefly allowed to leave and when I came back with water for the woman, who needed medical care, I was shoved to the ground and we had to sit against the wall," said the human rights activist.
"Some soldiers were standing beside us holding big metal shields to protect themselves, and others were behind the wall against which we were sitting, hurling grenades inside the building where the men were," she explained.
Her account was corroborated by the AFP correspondent on the scene and a neighbour, 42-year-old Mahmad Rehat, who said the human shields were kept for around an hour, while the soldiers fired at the building.
Three militants were finally captured, including a member of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, a radical offshoot of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's Fatah group.
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle.asp?xfile=data/middleeast/2003/May/middleeast_May321.xml§ion=middleeast&col=
Israeli troops used Palestinian civilians, including young children, as human shields in an operation on Wednesday to capture wanted militants in the West Bank city of Jenin, witnesses said.
An AFP correspondent said an undercover unit of soldiers dressed as Palestinians moved into the centre of the autonomous city and stopped two civilian cars less than 100 metres away from the house sheltering the militants.
The soldiers forced some of the occupants out of one and used the vehicle to approach the house before opening fire on the building, near the central hospital.
Ewa, a 24-year-old Polish-British woman volunteering with various local humanitarian organisations, said she approached the scene of the clashes when she heard the first shots being fired.
"I joined three girls, aged four, six and nine, and a very distressed woman who were not allowed to leave the scene of the fighting and forced to sit on the floor against a wall facing the targeted building," she told AFP, declining to divulge her surname. "Palestinian men were then brought out of the building, handcuffed and forcibly thrown to the ground," before the assault was completed, she said.
"I was briefly allowed to leave and when I came back with water for the woman, who needed medical care, I was shoved to the ground and we had to sit against the wall," said the human rights activist.
"Some soldiers were standing beside us holding big metal shields to protect themselves, and others were behind the wall against which we were sitting, hurling grenades inside the building where the men were," she explained.
Her account was corroborated by the AFP correspondent on the scene and a neighbour, 42-year-old Mahmad Rehat, who said the human shields were kept for around an hour, while the soldiers fired at the building.
Three militants were finally captured, including a member of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, a radical offshoot of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's Fatah group.
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle.asp?xfile=data/middleeast/2003/May/middleeast_May321.xml§ion=middleeast&col=
AFP
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