The Israeli occupation forces (IOF) used a 16-year-old Palestinian girl as a human shield in front of a military vehicle during a raid in the West Bank city of Jenin last week.
“Israeli soldiers forced Ahed Mohammad Rida Mereb 16 to stand in front of an Israeli military vehicle on May 13 around 8 a.m. in the Al Hadaf neighborhood of Jenin as Palestinian gunmen shot heavily toward the Israeli forces’ position” according to an investigative report released last Thursday by Defense for Children International – Palestine (DCIP).
“Israeli forces ordered Ahed to stand outside the military vehicle for around two hours while they sat inside” DCIP pointed out.
“International law is explicit and absolutely prohibits the use of children as human shields by armed forces or armed groups” Ayed Abu Eqtaish DCIP accountability program director said adding that “Israeli forces intentionally putting a child in grave danger in order to shield themselves constitutes a war crime.”
According to information collected by DCIP the IOF encircled Ahed’s house at around six in the morning on May 13 in order to arrest her 20-year-old brother and ordered Ahed her parents and her two younger brothers to walk out of the house and then to move to a yard across the street before soldiers suddenly exchanged fire with Ahed’s older brother who remained in the house. At around eight in the morning Palestinian gunmen shot heavily toward an Israeli military vehicle which is when soldiers ordered Ahed to stand in front of their vehicle.
“Bullets were being fired at the military vehicle from all directions” Ahed told DCIP. “I was trembling and crying and shouting to the soldiers to remove me because the bullets were passing over my head but one of them ordered me in Arabic through a small window in the military vehicle ‘Stay where you are and do not move. You are a terrorist. Stand in your place until you say goodbye to your brother.’”
Ahed tried to tilt her head to the side to dodge the bullets but one of the soldiers ordered her to stand up straight. She stood in front of the Israeli military vehicle for about two hours before running to a nearby tree and collapsing on the ground according to DCIP.
“Around two hours later Israeli forces evacuated Ahed’s two-story house where she lived with her parents three brothers grandparents two uncles and their wives and their eight children ranging in age from one to 11 years old. After the family was evacuated Israeli forces bombed the house with rocket-propelled grenades which caused the house to catch on fire. Israeli forces also shot live ammunition at the house” DCIP explained in its report.
“Israeli forces withdrew from Ahed’s neighborhood around 11 a.m. She learned that Israeli forces arrested her older brother and that neighborhood residents posted on social media that she was being used as a human shield by Israeli forces which led the Palestinian gunmen to stop shooting at the Israeli military vehicle” DCIP elaborated.
Ahed was transferred by private vehicle to Jenin Hospital and was treated for intense mental stress and a severe lack of oxygen DCIP noted.
“The use of civilians as human shields wherein civilians are forced to directly assist military operations or used to shield armed forces or armed groups or objects from attack is prohibited under international law. The practice is also prohibited under Israeli law based on a 2005 ruling by the Israeli High Court of Justice” DCIP underlined.
Since 2000 DCIP has documented at least 26 cases involving Palestinian children being used as human shields by the Israeli occupation army.
“Only one of those cases led to the conviction of two soldiers for “inappropriate behavior” and “overstepping authority.” Both were demoted in rank and given three-month suspended sentences” DCIP affirmed.
