‘Innocent civilians’ play their part

During a day with the troops in Gaza Israeli journalist Ron Ben-Yishai reports:

One of the company commanders runs over and excitingly tells us that the “Caterpillars” – D9 bulldozers used by the IDF – have uncovered a tunnel full of containers; but someone tells him that this tunnel is a familiar find. We head out to inspect the tunnel, which is located in fairly dangerous territory, in order to decide what to do with it. We get a short security briefing, individual “combat numbers” and off we go, moving through the alleys, the soldiers pointing their weapons at the top floors or the holes in the walls, as need be. Hamas is nowhere to be found, but it could reappear at any moment. We arrive at an open area and the troops deploy quickly. We are treading through the Gaza quagmire – and there is a lot of it around.

We run across a local family in one of the buildings. Grandparents, a few young parents, some children and a few toddlers. Sitting on a rug, their legs are covered in blankets and two soldiers are standing guard nearby. “What about them?” I ask. “They’re free to go if they want to, but they don’t want to,” said Eilon Perry, Givati’s operations officer. “They informed us they would be staying in the house and we have no choice but to accept that.”

The family suddenly notices the cameras, and immediately, the expression on their faces changes. “We have no food,” they say in Arabic, as one of the youngsters suggests we interview him in English about their plight. Givati troops are extremely concerned about being portrayed as abusing innocent civilians. Perry points to a stack of canned goods, water bottles and other provisions. “We provided some of that and they cook and eat quite well,” said Perry. The Palestinians seem to understand him and one of them smiles. It’s a war – they had to try.

The prophet said: ‘War is deceit’ Volume 4, Book 52, Number 268

H/T: Jihad Watch