Senior Israeli Officer in Gaza Saw Hamas Fighter Seize Children as Shields After Firing at IDF Force
A senior Israel Defense Forces officer told The Algemeiner that he personally witnessed a Hamas fighter seize children to hide behind after firing at Israeli troops during Operation Protective Edge in Gaza.
In a recent wide-ranging interview, Colonel Yonatan Branski, who commanded missions in Beit Hanoun during the Operation, also revealed intimate details of Hamas warfare tactics, explained the unprecedented steps Israel takes to prevent civilian casualties during combat, and asserted that the IDF is the planet’s most moral army. Branksi’s comments were made with the approval of the IDF, but in a personal capacity during a recent visit to New York.
Until just a year ago, Branski served as the Deputy Commander of the Southern Command’s Gaza Division. Now an instructor in the Commander and Staff College of the IDF, he was reassigned to command infantry and armored brigades during the war. The Colonel described the Gaza terror infrastructure as being “like two cities, one above the ground and one beneath the ground.” “There is a whole network underneath the ground with ammunition storages and war rooms,” he said. “They even slept there.” “They don’t have a problem using United Nations facilities or schools,” he said. “They do it all the time; they did it all the time.” He said that he doesn’t know how Hamas operatives gain access to the UN properties, and added that the UN is “not doing enough to stop it.” “Maybe some of the people who work for the UN are… connected to Hamas,” Branski speculated.
The most immoral act he witnessed during the Gaza fighting, Branski said, was a Hamas fighter who “launched an (anti-tank) missile, and then he grabbed two children… (and) ran with them across the street to hide.” Branski said that Hamas fighters also understand the negative connotations that come with being caught firing from schools, and began to operate from just outside the civilian structures hoping that the Israeli response would miss its mark and strike innocents. “They (Hamas fighters) stood outside the school yard, and shot. Then they hoped that we’d shoot back… It happened 21 times, one after the other,” he said.
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http://www.algemeiner.com/2014/09/19/senior-israeli-officer-in-gaza-saw-hamas-fighter-seize-children-as-shields-after-firing-at-idf-forces-interview/
