As Operation Protective Edge now enters its 17th day, IDF soldiers returning from the war front in Gaza are giving shocking testimony about the barbaric methods Hamas is using to deter soldiers.
Parents of wounded soldiers told Kol Yisrael radio on Tuesday that their sons reported numerous instances in which Hamas would use young children as human shields.
Many of the soldiers told their parents that Hamas would repeatedly send out young children to the streets in the Shuja’iya neighborhood in northern Gaza with guns to try and attack IDF troops.
Shuja’iya has been the location of some of the most intense fighting between the Israeli army and Hamas terrorists. Hamas converted the civilian neighborhood into a type of fortress, hiding its weapons and entrances to numerous terror tunnels that lead into Israel.
One of the parents reported that their son had seen a terrorist run straight for the IDF soldiers, opening fire with a gun in one hand and a baby in the other. The terrorist hoped that should forces see the baby, they would hold their fire. If the soldiers fired, then the child’s death would be used as yet another piece of propaganda against Israel.
“They’re continuing the same trick of using children as human shields, just as they did in Operation Cast Lead,” one father said. He also mentioned how many women were being used as human shields as well.
Hamas has encouraged its followers to utilize innocent civilians in Gaza as human shields as a way to deter IDF actions. It has become a common practice for Hamas to organize groups of children to assemble on the roofs of buildings about to be targeted by the IAF as a way to force Israel to call off the strike.
While Israel does all it can to protect the lives of civilians in Gaza, the United Nations Human Rights Council has decided to open up an investigation on whether Israel has been committing war crimes.
This week, Israel reported that a UN agency working in Gaza returned some 20 rockets it had found in a children’s school back to Hamas terrorists.
