Israeli forces used 80-year-old Palestinian as human shield before killing him
Israeli forces strapped explosives around the neck of an elderly Palestinian man in Gaza and forced him to act as a human shield before killing him and his wife, an investigation by the Israeli news website HaMakom has revealed.
The Palestinian man, who has not been named but is believed to have been well above the age of 80, was told that if he did not carry out the searches Israeli forces would detonate the explosives and "blow off his head."
According to HaMakom, the incident took place in May last year when Israeli soldiers from several different brigades amassed near the house of the Palestinian couple, both aged in their 80s, in Gaza City's Zeitoun neighbourhood.
At the time, Israeli forces had launched their third ground assault on the area after engaging in intense fighting with Hamas and other Palestinian movements.
HaMakom said that the Nahal Brigade, the Carmeli Brigade and the Multidimensional Unit, decided to use the elderly Palestinian man, who used a walking stick to get around, as the human shield.
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