Israel accused of using farmers as human shields

[Scurrilous]

<snip>

"METHODS used by the Israel Defence Forces in their assault on the Gaza Strip have raised questions about whether Israeli military commanders authorised the use of Palestinians as human shields - a charge Israel has repeatedly made against Hamas.

Palestinian farmers from the neighbourhood of al-Atatra, about 10 kilometres north of the centre of Gaza City, said Israeli ground troops arrived in the area on January 7.

Samir Abu Dayer, 59, a farmer, said soldiers occupied several hectares of farmland behind his house. The fields that before the war produced olives, oranges and lemons are now a large stretch of pale yellow sand and broken irrigation pipes.

A sandpit roughly the size of an Olympic pool, with four walls about two metres high pushed together by bulldozers, dominates one field.

According to Mr Dayer, and several other residents whose houses bordered the field, Israeli troops quickly evacuated the surrounding houses. "They entered my house with a tank," Mr Dayer said. "I was told to come outside with my family."

Told to strip to his underwear, Mr Dayer said his hands were tied behind his back with white plastic cables, then he was moved into the sandpit area.

Mohammed Madhoun, 22, a media and public relations student at the Al-Aqsa University, whose home is across a laneway from Mr Dayer's home, said he and his parents were ordered to do the same.

"I was told to take off my clothes by one soldier, told to put them on again by another, and then take them off again. My hands were tied and I was taken into this area," Mr Madhoun said, pointing to the sandpit.

Ali Ajramy, 39, a tailor, thrust his hands forward to show the sores on his wrists caused by plastic cables

"I was taken into this prison," he said. "And I was told to be quiet and kneel down."

The three were among about 85 men who were moved into the sandpit area and gathered at the western end.

They said the Israeli troops then took position around perimeter of the sandpit area and began to engage with Palestinian resistance fighters. "We kept our heads down, we didn't move for two days," Mr Madhoun said. "There was lots of shooting over our heads but I don't know where it was coming from. We were given blankets and food."

more

[aquart]

1. Has Hamas finished its "collaborator" roundup? How many did they bag?

[thunder rising]

2. ??

[Bodhi BloodWave]

3. What exactly does that have to do with this thread, aside from trying to divert it? n/t

[azurnoir]

4. it needs to be asked if Hamas

is using Palestinian civilians as human shields why is IDF as it would seem quite useless.

[Scurrilous]

5. Report: Gaza detainees held bound for days

Seven Israeli human rights groups file complaint with military advocate general chief, attorney general regarding what they describe as IDF's 'inhumane, appalling treatment' of Palestinian detainees during Gaza op

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3663233,00.html

<snip>

"Seven Israeli human rights organizations urged Chief Military Advocate General Brig.-Gen. Avichai Mendelblit and Attorney General Menachem Mazuz on Wednesday to launch an investigation into reports that Gaza detainees were held in "horrid conditions" and treated "inhumanely" during the IDF's operation in the Strip.

In a letter to Mazuz and Mendelblit, the groups, which include the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel, B'Tselem and Physicians for Human Rights said that detainees arrested by IDF forces in Gaza suffered from appalling treatment while in the army's custody.

The groups claimed that based on testimonies gathered from some of the detainees by lawyers working for the Public Committee Against Torture, many of the prisoners were held inside holes in the ground for long hours, while they were handcuffed, blindfolded and left exposed to the harsh weather.

"We were handcuffed and blindfolded. They put us in a three-meter deep ditch with some 70 other people," Majdi Muhammad Ayid al-Atar, 43, from northern Gaza described in his testimony.

"We spent two days there without any food, water or blankets. They also didn't let us go to the toilet. Afterwards they moved us to another ditch. The soldiers kept beating anyone who dared ask for anything," he recounted.

Another detainee, Samir Ali Muhammad Atar, described: "The soldiers ordered us to climb down the crater and we were held there for two days… the soldiers kept us exposed to the bitter cold and only on the third days gave every two of us a blanket to share. Throughout this time we were handcuffed and slept on the ground."

According to the organizations, the detainees suffered from hunger, were not allowed to relieve themselves, "and worse even – some of them were being held near tanks and in war zones in blatant violation of international humanitarian law."