Palestinian injured by Israeli soldiers using him as a human shield

May 15, 2007

Jenin – Ma'an – A Palestinian citizen was injured on Tuesday morning at the hands of the Israeli soldiers in the northern West Bank city of Jenin.

The man was injured after the Israeli soldiers broke into his home, transformed it into a military station and then attempted to use him as a human shield.

Eyewitnesses said that the Israeli soldiers took control of the home belonging to Mufeid Al-Ghanim, in the Damj neighbourhood of Jenin refugee camp. The witnesses added that the soldiers turned the home into a military station, before Palestinian resistance fighters besieged the home and clashed with the Israeli soldiers.

Shot in the back

The eyewitnesses affirmed that the soldiers forcibly evacuated the residents of the home in order to use them as human shields. The homeowner's son, Majd Al-Ghanim, aged 26, was injured during the operation. He received a bullet to his back, from the direction of the Israeli soldiers who stood behind him. Medical sources said the injury was moderate.

The spokesperson of a joint group of the Islamic Jihad-affiliated Al-Quds and Fatah-affiliated Al-Aqsa Brigades in Jenin, said that the group besieged the Israeli soldiers in the home and clashed with them. He affirmed that the owner's son was shot by the Israeli soldiers, not the resistance fighters, who halted fire to avoid harming the residents of the home, after they were used as human shields.

Human shields

There has been widespread condemnation of the Israeli army's use of human shields during military operations in the West Bank. Video footage has been captured by local and international activists showing Israeli soldiers in Nablus, during 'Operation Hot Winter', forcing Palestinians to stand in front of them during operations, to prevent the soldiers from being fired at by the so-called 'wanted' Palestinians.

In April, an American volunteer at An Najah University, captured two youths being forced to stand in front of an Israeli jeep in Nablus, to protect it from young stone-throwers.