Haaretz
Adar 19, 5767
Israel Defense Forces soldiers used an
11-year-old Palestinian girl as a "human shield" during an operation
against militants in the West Bank town of Nablus last week, an Israeli
human rights group said on Thursday.
The IDF said it was checking
the information from the B'Tselem group, which monitors Israeli actions in
the occupied territory. Israeli law bans the military from using human
shields.
B'Tselem said the girl, Jihan Daadush, told its
interviewers that IDF soldiers had entered her family home and questioned
her and her relatives about the whereabouts of gunmen who had fired at
them during the raid.
The soldiers, she said, threatened to arrest
her unless she led them to a nearby house.
"[A soldier] ordered me
to go towards the house," B'Tselem quoted the girl as saying. "Three
soldiers walked behind me. When we reached the house, there were a lot of
soldiers. The soldiers ordered me to go inside the house and I went
inside."
B'Tselem said Jihan told them the soldiers shone
flashlights and asked about the rooms of the house. There was no mention
in the report of whether troops found militants inside. The girl said two
soldiers then returned her home.
"[One of the soldiers] told me,
'Thank you, but don't tell anyone,'" the girl said, according to B'Tselem.
"I was afraid they would kill me or put me in jail. I am still afraid the
soldiers will invade the city again and take me away."
B'tselem
also said the army had used a 15-year-old Palestinian boy and a
Palestinian man for a similar purpose during the five-day raid of Nablus,
a militant stronghold.
The IDF ended the operation on March 1.
During the incursion, troops shot dead a Palestinian civilian who had
observed the raid from his rooftop. Soldiers also detained 11 suspected
militants.