I was a human shield: What the Israeli soldiers did to the Gaza Father Israeli conflict news

Gaza City On October 19, hundreds of displaced Palestinians at Hamad School in Northern Gaza in Beit Lahia heard what everyone is afraid of the Palestinian enclave.

“At dawn, we heard the (Israeli) tanks that surround the school, and Quadcopters began the general expenditures in the request of everyone to go out,” she remembers Amal Al -Masry, 30, who gave birth to her younger daughter recently, she has not yet called her when the tanks came.

People were already tense after bombing and explosions throughout the night – adults are very afraid of sleep, and children cry in fear and confusion.

Amal, who lived in a classroom with her husband, Youssef, 36, and their five young children-Talaa, Honda, Asad, said, all of whom ranged between the ages of four and 11, and Abha in Youssef, 62, and Abha, 62, “the buildings that were peeled everywhere around us.”

Amal had broke the child while Youssef was carrying two of their young children. Together, the adults prayed.

Now, the dawn, and a male voice recording speaking in Arabic that played through loudspeakers on Quadcopter revolving around the school, ordering everyone to come out with their definitions and hands.

The quadkop fired on the buildings, dropped sound bombs, and sent people to a state of panic as they rushed to collect everything they can. Some fled with nothing.

Yousef and Amal and the children were among the first to reach the school square – Youssef and the four children carried their identity and hands, while carrying the child’s hope in her arms.

In chaos, Youssef lost the path of his father.

Amal recalls: “Quadcopters issued instructions:” Men to the school gate, women and children in the school courtyard. “

Hole

“There were soldiers at the school gate with tanks behind them, and more soldiers around the place.”

He and other males between the ages of 14, including some of the nearby schools, have ordered by Israeli soldiers to gather at the main gate in groups, and deal with the inspection corridor with a camera known as “Al -Khababa”.

“Every man has been ordered to deal with a plate with a camera, one by one,” said Youssef, who believes the camera uses face.

After it was recorded by the camera, the man or boy was sent to a hole drilling Israeli bulldozers, he says.

During the next few hours, some males were released, and others were sent to another hole, while some were interrogated.

As for Yousef, he kicked with about 100 other men in a hole near school with his hands behind his back throughout the day.

He said: “The soldiers were shooting, throwing sound bombs, hitting some men, and torturing others.” All the time, he was concerned about his family.

“I was very worried about my wife and children. I didn’t know anything about them.” “I gave birth to my wife a week ago and you will not be able to walk with children. Without anyone to help, I was afraid of what might happen to them.”

When the evening came, only about seven men remain in the hole.

Joseph was hungry, tired and anxious, then a soldier referred to him. “He chose me randomly and two other men. Youssef told Al Jazerera:” We didn’t understand the reason. “

He said: “We took the soldiers to an apartment in a nearby building,” adding that he believed that they were near Sheikh Zayed roundabout.

The men were banned from talking to each other, but Youssef may recognize them-a 58-year-old child and a 20-year-old child who had in schools near Hamad. He said that all the time, the sound of the bombing and the bombing of them resonated.

“We told us a soldier that we would help them in some tasks and will be released after that, but I was afraid to kill us at any moment.”

“My use of the cover”

Youssef and his exhausting colleagues set out at some point at night, before the soldiers grabbed the wakeders and expelled them from the apartment and in the streets.

Soon I realized that the soldiers were walking behind him, To use it as a cover.

“I realized that I was using a human shield was terrifying.”

When they arrived at a school empty by Israeli soldiers, he was ordered to open doors and go to every semester to verify the fighters who might hide there.

Armed soldiers will not enter weapons until after “everything is clear.”

Today he continued this, with Yousef used to cancel a “room” after the room, after which the soldiers set fire to the buildings.

All the time, Youssef was afraid that Quadcopter would be called, or an Israeli sniper might be mistaken because of his threat and killing.

When the searches per day were completed, he was returned to the apartment with the other two men and was given the second meal of the day, a piece of bread and some water, just like the morning.

On the fourth day, Youssef and the 58 -year -old were ordered to go to a nearby school and Kamal Adwan Hospital to provide evacuation leaflets to people who own there.

They were given an hour and told that the quadquet will hover public expenditures. While handing them the publications to people, the quadquets was announcing the evacuation of the loudspeakers.

Escape

Youssef decided that he would try to escape on that day by hiding in the hospital yard.

“I was afraid of returning,” explained. “I wanted to escape and find out if my family was safe, as I heard soldiers who teach women and children to go south to Khan Yunis.”

He decided to enter a group of men who are forced to evacuate, waiting anxiously over time. The soldiers said that they should leave for an hour only, and that was the case.

The men’s line was advancing. Youssef said: “I was praying, they will not get to know me.”

Then a soldier sits on a tank shot in the left leg.

“She fell to the ground. Youssef recalls that the men around them tried to help me, but the soldiers shouted to me to leave me.

She clung to one of the men, then a soldier said to me, and remains: “Come on, wake up and tend to this man and went to Salah al -Din Street. “

Despite the pain as he was stumbling, Joseph was in the event that the soldier had not killed him. He said, “I expected to be killed at any moment.”

Soon, it was transferred by a Palestinian ambulance to the Higher Arab Hospital for treatment.

Revision

Amal, who was transferred to the children to the New Gaza School in Al -Nasr in West Gaza City, heard that Youssef was at the Olaya Hospital.

She rushed there, I was relieved after she suffered from days of conflicting reports because some people said they saw him detention, while others said they saw him elsewhere.

I told the island via the phone barely reached victory.

On the day the family separated, women and children were kept in the school square for hours.

“My children were terrified. Many children were crying. Some were asking for food and water. Mothers appealed to the soldiers to get food and water, but they shouted at us and refused.”

In the afternoon, Israeli soldiers moved women and children to a checkpoint with a camera.

“We told us to get out of five at the same time,” said Amal, describing how her 11 -year -old daughter Tala holds to join the group after that.

“She started crying and calling,” Mama, please don’t leave me, “tells Amal, her voice shakes.

They were eventually told to walk south on Salah al -Din Street.

“The tanks surrounding the school were overwhelming – I thought about myself:” God! A complete brigade of tanks came to these defenseless civilians.

“My body has exhausted – I only gave birth to one week, and I could barely carry my child, much less than the few properties that we had.”

While the tanks were wandering around them, they raised waves of dust and sand. Amal remembers, telling how she shouted and cried the older children when the child fell: “With all dust, I stumbled, and my child fell from my arms on the ground.”

In the end, I left all their property on the road; She was very exhausted to continue her pregnancy. She needed to get her children in a safe place.

“My four -year -old son did not stop crying:” I am tired, I can’t do that. “We didn’t have food, no water, nothing.”

Early evening, I arrived at the New Gaza School with others displaced from the north.

Amal, Youssef, and their children together now, in a school class.

Youssef spent two days in the hospital, and after 13 stitches, he walks cautiously with Arj.

Youssef’s father has been missing from the day the soldiers came to Hamad School. He heard from some people that his father had been captured, but he does not know.

Their infant, whose name was not revealed when they were forced to leave northern Gaza, Smiwid, “Al -Samoud”, was a symbol of their refusal to leave.