Palestinians Brag About Using Human Shields for Terrorists

Palestinian terror organizations used women and children as human shields this past weekend to save terrorists holed up in a mosque in Gaza. The group of terrorists were under siege and Israel was demanding their surrender. In response, the Palestinians organized a human shield of more than 200 women and children to surround the men and walk them to safety.

According to the PA daily:

About 200 female residents crossed the village along with their children until they reached the besieged Al Nasr mosque, broke into it and released 15 armed men... During this mission, two women died.

[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, November 4, 2006]

According to the report, the Palestinians had decided that the lives of the terrorists were more important than the lives of the women and children: Muhammad, from the Al Qassam Brigades, the military branch of the Hamas, who was among those under siege [said]: 'What matters is that we were released.' His mother said that the women waved white flags, 'but the tanks kept shooting at us. All we cared about was to release our sons, even if it cost our lives.' The woman citizens walked quickly surrounding the exhausted fighters towards the 'safer alleyways' of Beit Hanun.

[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, November 4, 2006]

As PMW has reported in the past, this is not the first time the PA has urged civilians to enter combat zones. It is part of a consistent pattern since the outbreak of the terror war in October 2000. In one previous instance the PA called on "women, children, and the elderly" to stand in front of IDF bulldozers that were searching for weapons tunnels between Gaza and Egypt in May 2004 [Al Ayyam, May 17, 2004].

Meanwhile UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan seemed to blaming Israel for the civilian deaths, saying he was:

deeply concerned about the continuing escalation of violence and rising death toll caused by the Israeli military operation in northern Gaza... several civilians have already been killed and wounded, including women and at least one Palestinian child.