Video shows Palestinian children in tunnels
‘In schools, youth groups and summer camps, Gazan children are taught the killing of Jews is justified’
FOOTAGE of children inside Hamas tunnels stretching under Gaza has been released by Israel, which claimed the terror group was using minors to “deliver ammunition”.
A group of young boys can be seen walking through a subterranean structure in the clip, published by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) yesterday, towards what appears to be a heavily armed Hamas terrorist.
The video was reportedly captured in the key southern city of Khan Younis, where Israeli troops have been engaged in heavy fighting in recent weeks.
It was part of a trove of documents, footage and photographs released by the IDF this week, which it described as evidence of Hamas recruiting children and using them to wage “terror”.
Among them was a picture of what appeared to be a young boy holding an rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) while standing alongside a Hamas gunman and another which showed a child posing next to a rocket launcher. The Daily Telegraph was unable to independently verify any of the material.
“Terrorism is not innate, it is learned,” the IDF said. “In schools, youth movements and summer camps, Gazan children are taught the killing of Jews and Israelis is justified, incited toward terrorism and trained to fight in tunnels, shoot and kidnap.
“During the ongoing war, Hamas has positioned children on the front lines, sending them to deliver messages and ammunition while its operatives hide in shelters,” it added.
The IDF claimed that more than 170 children are being used by Hamas and fellow terror group Islamic Jihad to aid their fighting amid the war in Gaza.
It said minors had been used in the war to ferry vegetable bags packed with explosives to Hamas terrorists intent on killing Israeli troops. “Children are sent to the battlefields after an attack in order to assess the damage and report it to the terrorists who are hiding in shelters,” the IDF added.
Special Hamas-run camps also teach children how to “shoot weapons, attack from a tunnel, fight against tanks and kidnap soldiers”, the IDF told Fox News.
The IDF said such camps formed the early stages of military training and were a precursor to children eventually joining Hamas’s ranks and becoming integrated into the group’s army.