Appendix A
 

  Children's lives at risk: Palestinian children and teenagers caught up in the midst of
exchanges of fire between IDF forces and masked adult Palestinians
   
 
In the course of the ongoing violent confrontation, Palestinian youngsters often find themselves caught up in the fighting between IDF forces and various Palestinian terrorists. Sometimes it is the children themselves who initiate such risky activities (whether driven by their constant exposure to incitement or out of sheer curiosity); on other occasions, they are encouraged by the Palestinian terrorist organizations that, taking advantage of the fact that IDF troops do not deliberately open fire at children, use them as human shields.

This phenomenon was clearly demonstrated in January and February of 2002, in a series of exchanges of fire between IDF forces and armed and masked Palestinians that took place in the neighborhoods of Zeitoun and Al-Shaja'iyah in Gaza. The following photographs, taken at the scene of the fighting, clearly demonstrate the presence of many children and teenagers in close proximity to the masked adult Palestinians and their ensuing exposure to IDF fire.

 
The Al-Shaja'iyah neighborhood in northern Gaza Strip
On February 11, 2004, IDF forces carried out an operation in Al-Shaja'iyah aimed at Palestinian terrorist squads who were engaged in setting explosive charges and firing mortar bombs and Qassam rockets at Israeli targets. Again, many Palestinian civilians huddled among the masked adult Palestinians who were engaged in fighting; noticeable among the civilians were Palestinian children and teenagers observing the “spectacle.” Despite their presence, those masked individuals continued the fighting, putting the children's lives at risk and, possibly, deliberately using them as human shields.



Taken from the MidEastTruth.com website
(a similar photograph was published in the Israeli daily Haaretz on February 12, 2004)


Taken from the MidEastTruth.com website


Taken from the Islam Online website (February 11, 2004)


Taken from the Islam Online website (February 11, 2004)


Taken from the MidEastTruth.com website
 
Exchanges of fire in the Gaza neighborhood of Zeitoun

The following is a photograph of masked Palestinians and IDF troops exchanging fire in the Gaza neighborhood of Zeitoun on January 28, 2004, with a Palestinian teenager (right) watching (Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth, January 29, 2004). These exchanges of fire led eventually to the deaths of 9 Palestinians, including 4 Palestinian Islamic Jihad operatives and an 11-year-old boy who, apparently, was situated in their midst.

 
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