NEW DELHI: The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) on Sunday released aerial footage that it said showed a Hamas fighter using young child to transfer weapons into a civilian home in central Gaza.The footage, recorded by an Israeli drone and shared by the IDF, appears to show a young boy struggling to carry a large rifle while a suspected militant directs him down a street.At one point, the child appears to stagger under the weight of the weapon. However, the video could not be independently verified.The IDF said the incident took place during operations in central Gaza and alleged that the child was being used as a human shield to prevent Israeli forces from striking the suspected militant and the weapons being transferred.“The terrorist exploited the child, using him as a human shield to transfer the weapons, in an attempt to prevent the IDF from striking and thwarting their transfer,” the IDF said in a statement on Sunday.“Upon identifying the presence of a child, the IDF refrained from carrying out any strikes against the terrorist,” it added.The Israeli military described the incident as another example of the “systematic exploitation of children by terrorist organizations for terrorist purposes, in violation of international law.”The IDF has repeatedly accused Hamas of operating from densely populated civilian areas in Gaza and of placing weapons, command centres and rocket launchers near schools and residential neighbourhoods.Hamas has denied such allegations, arguing that Gaza is one of the most densely populated places in the world and that military activity therefore naturally takes place near civilian areas, the Jerusalem Post reported.Hamas leaders have also said that Israel, as the occupying power of the Gaza Strip, bears the legal responsibility for protecting civilians and children.
