Israel: Palestinian medical volunteer killed in Gaza was ‘human shield’

JERUSALEM: Israel said that a Palestinian medical volunteer shot dead during violence along the Gaza border had agreed to serve as a ‘human shield’ during protests and clashes.

Spokespersons for the Israeli government and the army published the same tweet, quoting part of an interview with the young woman, Razan al-Najjar, in which she says she was acting as a ‘human shield’.

But the full quote she gave to Lebanese channel Al-Mayadeen was cut short, leaving out the part where she said she was helping the injured.

“Razan al-Najjar was not an angel of mercy as Hamas is trying to market her,” Ofir Gendelman, the Arabic-language spokesman for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, said in a tweet.

“Her admission in front of the cameras that she was a human shield for rioters proves how Hamas exploits even medics to service its terrorist goals.”

In the full interview to AlMayadeen, Najjar said: “I am here on the front lines as a human shield to protect the wounded.”

Since regular protests broke out on the Gaza-Israel border on March 30, Israel has repeatedly accused Hamas – the enclave’s Islamist Palestinian rulers – of using protesters as ‘ human shields’ to cover ‘ terrorist’ activities.

At least 125 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza by Israeli fire since the protests began. No Israeli has been killed. Israel and Hamas have fought three wars since 2008 and observe a tense ceasefire.

Najjar, 21, was shot in her chest on June 1 while wearing a white medical coat. Palestinian medics said she was trying to provide care for injured protesters. Her death revived accusations of excessive use of force against the Israeli army. The army has denied it targeted her.

The tweet shows another video in which young Palestinians place an object spewing gas in the hands of a young woman wearing a medical mask and presented as Najjar, who then throws the object into a field. Gendelman said it was probably a tear gas cartridge fired by the Israeli army and retrieved by the young men. — AFP