UN report says Israel used boy as human shield

[Scurrilous]

<snip>

"Israeli soldiers used an 11-year-old Palestinian boy as a human shield during the war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, a group of U.N. human rights experts said Monday.

The Israeli Defense force ordered the boy to walk in front of soldiers being fired on in the Gaza neighborhood of Tel al-Hawa and enter buildings before them, said the U.N. secretary-general’s envoy for protecting children in armed conflict.

Radhika Coomaraswamy said the incident on Jan. 15, after Israeli tanks had rolled into the neighborhood, was a violation of Israeli and international law.

It was included in a 43-page report published Monday, and was just one of many verified human rights atrocities during the three-week war between Israel and Hamas that ended Jan. 18, she said.

Coomaraswamy accused Israeli soldiers of shooting Palestinian children, bulldozing a home with a woman and child still inside, and shelling a building they had ordered civilians into a day earlier.

Israel’s diplomatic mission in Geneva said it would respond to the allegations later Monday at a session of the U.N. Human Rights Council."

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[Turbineguy]

1. It says something about Hamas

that they didn't shoot the kid. They must have figured that the Israelis were filming this.

[shira]

4. I'm thinking the same thing

WTF would the IDF be doing using any human shield against Hamas when any Palestinian casualty is a PR victory for them? Not only would the IDF be pretty sick for trying this; they would be stupid.

So what kind of hard evidence exists that proves conclusively that kids were used as shields for the IDF?

[Idealism]

5. The IDF has used human shields in the past, just like Hamas has.

The Israeli Supreme Court, as you know, had to actually rule on the use of these (which is saying something that they even needed to REMIND people that this is illegal). There are first-hand accounts of Palestinians being used by the IDF in Gaza as human shields, this is not the only one. In the past couple of years there has also been evidence of this being done by the IDF.

http://www.btselem.org/english/Human_Shields/20070225_Human_Shields_in_Nablus.asp
http://www.btselem.org/english/Human_Shields/20060720_Human_Shields_in_Beit_Hanun.asp
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1173879096640&pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1065594.html

This is an interesting article, detailing how the IDF actually had the balls to appeal the ban on using human shields:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4333982.stm

[shira]

6. this is older info., not so relevant right now

you understand my surprise at these allegations? as if any IDF soldier would assume that with a Palestinian human shield, Hamas wouldn't fire at them?

[Idealism]

7. One Palestinian casualty doesn't mean much to Israel, but the negative PR for human shields does

[bemildred]

2. 'IDF troops used 11-year-old boy as human shield in Gaza'

Israel Defense Forces soldiers used an 11-year-old Palestinian boy as a human shield during the war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, a group of UN human rights experts said Monday.

IDF troops ordered the boy to walk in front of soldiers being fired on in the Gaza neighborhood of Tel al-Hawa and enter buildings before them, said the UN secretary-general?s envoy for protecting children in armed conflict.

Radhika Coomaraswamy said the incident on Jan. 15, after Israeli tanks had rolled into the neighborhood, was a violation of Israeli and international law. It was included in a 43-page report published Monday, and was just one of many verified human rights atrocities during the three-week war between Israel and Hamas that ended Jan. 18, she said.

Coomaraswamy accused Israeli soldiers of shooting Palestinian children, bulldozing a home with a woman and child still inside, and shelling a building they had ordered civilians into a day earlier.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1073243.html

[bemildred]

3. U.N. report condemns Israel for Gaza operation

(CNN) -- Israeli soldiers routinely and intentionally put children in harm's way during their 22-day offensive against the Palestinians in Gaza, according to a United Nations report made public Monday.

The report said a working group had documented and verified reports of violations "too numerous to list."

For example, on January 15, in a town southwest of Gaza City, Israel Defense Forces soldiers ordered an 11-year-old boy to open Palestinians' packages, presumably so that the soldiers would not be hurt if they turned out to contain explosives, the 43-page report said.

They then forced the boy to walk in front of them in the town, it said. When the soldiers came under fire, "the boy remained in front of the group," the report said.

http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/meast/03/23/israel.gaza.un.report/