Israel soldiers reveal ‘shoot first’ policy in Gaza

Yana Dlugy
AFP
Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Israeli soldiers in the Gaza war were told to shoot first and worry about the consequences later and used Palestinian civilians as human shields, an activist group said in a report on Wednesday.

The testimony of some 30 soldiers — all unnamed — shows that the massive destruction wreaked on the Palestinian territory was “a direct result of IDF (Israel Defence Forces) policy,” said the Breaking the Silence group, made up of veteran troops.

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Soldiers regularly used civilians as human shields during the December and January conflict, one said: “To every house we close in on, we send the neighbour in, the ‘Johnnie’.”

Another said his commander told him of instances when “the force would enter while placing rifle barrels on a civilian’s shoulder, advancing into a house and using him as a human shield.”

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