This week PIJ used child soldiers against Israeli forces

This week, Israel has been dealing with increased terrorist aggression in the Judea and Samaria (West Bank) and as a result a number of Palestinian children have been caught up in the action. Sadly, it seems many of these children were recruited, trained and used by Palestinian terror groups as child soldiers against Israel. Shamefully, the international community is ignoring this internationally outlawed human rights abuse by Palestinian terror groups.

Highlighted in this article:

• PIJ used children in its battles with IDF troops in Jenin
• Palestinian teens were killed while carrying a PIJ explosive
• A Palestinian girl that was shot dead (possibly by Palestinian gunfire) is pictured with a gun and PIJ militant garb
• One of the Palestinian terrorists killed in the Israeli UAV strike on a vehicle was a child soldier being used by PIJ

A lot has happened this week in regards to Israel’s dealing with Palestinian terror groups. We are not going to go into all the details on what happened, but we will highlight the child casualties on the Palestinian side of this conflict and explain why the world must condemn Palestinian terrorists for using children in their wars.

According to international law, it is a war crime and human rights abuse to use children in armed conflicts.

Let’s be clear: PIJ is committing war crimes by using children

Child soldier definition:

“A child associated with an armed force or armed group” refers to any person below 18 years of age who is or who has been recruited or used by an armed force or armed group in any capacity, including but not limited to children, boys and girls, used as fighters, cooks, porters, spies or for sexual purposes. It does not only refer to a child who is taking or has taken a direct part in hostilities.
(Source: Paris Principles on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict 2007)

And according to the United Nations:

“Human rights law declares 18 as the minimum legal age for recruitment and use of children in hostilities. Recruiting and using children under the age of 15 as soldiers is prohibited under international humanitarian law – treaty and custom – and is defined as a war crime by the International Criminal Court. Parties to conflict that recruit and use children are listed by the [UN] Secretary-General in the annexes of his annual report on children and armed conflict.”

With this in mind, let’s expose how Palestinian terror groups are committing war crimes that the world is ignoring.

Palestinian teens were killed while carrying a PIJ explosive

The first child that we will be talking about you may not have heard of. On Tuesday, two Palestinian teens were killed by an explosive device they were carrying.

The two fatalities were named by Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), as 17-year-old Mohammed Hashah and 18-year-old Alaa Hafnawi. A third person was critically wounded in the blast, according to Palestinian media.

We do not have the full details of their deaths. Information is not so forthcoming in these types of incidents, especially when Israel isn’t to blame. The teens could have been child soldiers, carrying out their job. They could have been planting the bomb in preparation, or clearing it away after Israeli operations in the area to be used another time. They could have been innocent children who decided to pick up an object they knew nothing about, although, this is unlikely since PIJ has claimed them as their own. Either way, two more teenagers, one of them a child, lost their lives due to Palestinian terror.

Because Israel cannot be blamed, the world will ignore this atrocity. But it is becoming clearer that Palestinian terror groups are more willing to use children and teens for their murderous campaigns.

Two members of PIJ (15-year-old boy and 14-year-old girl) were killed during the IDF’s raid on Jenin

The next two children we will talk about were killed during the IDF’s raid on Jenin on Monday morning. Despite their young ages, both of them were likely a members of the PIJ terror group.

Ahmad Saqer (or Ahmed Saqr) was killed during clashes between Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) terrorists and Israel Defence Forces (IDF) as the IDF entered Jenin to arrest two terrorists.

The IDF had entered the Palestinian city of Jenin to carry out an early morning counter terror operation when they came under heavy attack.

The Palestinian terrorists, primarily from PIJ, had setup ambushes to attempt to kill the Israeli soldiers. Dozens of roadside bombs were detonated as the Israeli vehicles drove through the city. There was no regard to human life from the terrorists. You can see in numerous videos how explosions happened deep in the heart of civilian neighbourhoods on public roads and next to houses.

The terrorists also embedded themselves in homes, using civilians as human shields, and even fired upon IDF forces from inside a mosque, as seen in the video of this Tweet.

Today in the city of Jenin, armed suspects fired toward IDF forces from inside a mosque.

Places of worship are for prayer, not to be taken over by armed gunmen. pic.twitter.com/i0aTZVE2Lx

— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) June 19, 2023

To complicate matters, Palestinian youths took to the streets and hurled rocks and Molotov cocktails at passing IDF vehicles while Palestinian terrorists, many armed with heavy machineguns, rained down bullets on the Israeli forces.

You can see one of the bombing attacks in this video here:

WATCH: IED explodes on IDF armored vehicle during an operation against Palestinian terrorists in Jenin.

7 soldiers were wounded. Keep Israel in your prayers. pic.twitter.com/ZjkTt3wkSi

— Shurat HaDin – שורת הדין (@ShuratHaDin) June 19, 2023

Additionally, you will see in this next video that Palestinian militants were shooting heavy weaponry at Israeli vehicles. Each bullet is causing real damage and is threatening the lives of Israeli soldiers.

Heavy clashes reported in the West Bank city of Jenin as the IDF carries out a raid. Palestinian Health Ministry reports at least 14 wounded, including some seriouslypic.twitter.com/Tczh5KPVDo

— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) June 19, 2023

In total, seven IDF personnel were wounded in these explosions and the clashes with terrorists in Jenin.

On the Palestinian side, seven Palestinians were killed and dozens more were injured.

Three militants killed Monday morning in Jenin have been claimed by Islamic Jihad. A fourth suspected militant killed in clashes against Israeli security forces has yet to be officially claimed. pic.twitter.com/r6KjAAOf75

— Joe Truzman (@JoeTruzman) June 19, 2023

Of the seven who were killed, five of them were adult members of terror groups (one was not a member but was an armed fighter). And two of them were children: Ahmed Saqer, 17, and Sabil Ghasan Ibrahim Naghnaghieh, 14.

Ahmed Saqer was killed during a gunbattle between Palestinian terrorists and IDF forces. Palestinian media say Ahmed was throwing rocks at Israeli troops when he was killed. This is an admission that he was involved in the conflict, but it is likely not the full picture.

On his TikTok account, Ahmed uploaded a video of him and one of his friends posing next to a flag of Palestinian Islamic Jihad. Another video he uploaded showed around a dozen pipe bombs inside a home.

A lot has been circulated about 4 of the 5 operatives. The last one, the 15-year-old ‘minor’ Ahmed Saqr, was described by Palestinian terror groups as a ‘fighter.’ Saqr posted 2 relevant videos on his TikTok account, the 2nd (seemingly showing pipe bombs) posted this month. pic.twitter.com/OSNtZQZYms

— The Israel Files (@theisraelfiles) June 22, 2023

Additionally, Palestinian terror groups described Ahmed as a “fighter”. It could be that instead of rocks, he was actually throwing more deadly munitions. Regardless of what he was throwing, this was not an easy situation for Israeli forces to deal with. As explained earlier, these were heavily armed terrorists firing machine guns and throwing explosives at the Israeli troops at the same time as youths attacked with rocks. Israeli forces, under intense attack and acting to save their lives, defended themselves against the threats they faced. In this chaotic situation, it is unclear whether Ahmed Saqer was killed by an Israeli bullet or a Palestinian one. But either way, it is unfortunate he lost his life, but the real crime is that he was seemingly recruited by PIJ and used as a child soldier against Israel.

The next child to be killed, also allegedly by Israeli forces, was Sadil Ghasan Ibrahim Naghnaghieh, a 14-year-old Palestinian girl who was shot dead during IDF operations in Jenin. She died of her wounds hours later while being treated in Jenin Government Hospital.

Sadil was reported by Palestinian sources as simply ‘filming Israeli troops in her garden’. The last evidence we have of this claim is a film she apparently recorded while in her garden which shows an Israeli vehicle driving near her home. There is no gunfire or anything happening that would point to Israel being responsible for her death. The video stops before showing how she died, if it even shows that at all.

Why did the video stop? Did the family not want to show the entire incident? Was it because it did not prove IDF troops were responsible? There is a possibility that Sadil was killed by Israeli forces, but there is an equally likely chance that it was Palestinian terrorists who fired the shot. And there is strong evidence she was a member of PIJ.

The video from Sadil’s phone shows Israeli forces entering Jenin. There is no gunfire at the time of the video, but Sadil’s house appears to sit in the middle of a junction and as she films, the IDF vehicle is directly in front of her but driving in distance away from her. This means that if the vehicle came under fire from gunmen who shot at the vehicle from the front, as the front is seen as a vulnerable place, Sadil would be in the line of fire standing directly behind it.

Additionally, if a terrorist started firing down the street from behind the vehicle, if the IDF responded to that gunfire, Sadil would be in the line of IDF gunfire towards the terrorists. Either way, Sadil was in a vulnerable position if an ambush occurred on the Israeli vehicle.

We do not have the full video evidence. We also do not know what happened after this video was filmed. But it is likely there is more to this story. Unfortunately, it appears that Sadil was recruited by Palestinian terrorists at a young age. Images of Sadil shared online by Palestinian sources simply show a smiling girl in a hijab with fields behind her. However, less widely circulated images shows Sadil holding a machine gun and wearing a bulletproof vest and the headband of a Palestinian terror faction.

The United Nations makes clear that the recruitment of child soldiers (anyone under the age of 18) is a human rights violation and a war crime if under the age of 15. Sadil was just 14-years-old.

Why does a 14-year-old girl look like that? https://t.co/QEAlcMkdQ4 pic.twitter.com/F1L8mAKeJs

— Adin – עדין (@AdinHaykin1) June 22, 2023

There are more images of Sadil showing her holding a weapon, her moles above and below her lips are visible to help identify that this is her. And at her funeral she was wrapped in Palestinian Islamic Jihad garb with a PIJ headband, an honour only given to members of the terror group. Remember, Sabil is just 14-years-old. PIJ is committing war crimes.

As expected, the United Nations never condemned the Palestinian terror groups that are using civilians as human shields or children as soldiers. Instead, the UN condemned Israel.

The child soldier taken out by a UAV strike

The final use of a child soldier by Palestinian terrorists this week came in the form of a 17-year-old Palestinian being part of a planned shooting operation against Israelis. Israel thwarted the attack and the headlines reporting on this incident mainly focus on Israel’s use of a drone (UAV) to destroy a vehicle carrying the three militants. What you may not know is that one of the militants was a child, trained and armed by Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and on his way to try and murder Israelis.

The three terrorists that were killed were named as Mohammed Bashar Uweis, 28, Suhayb Adnan al-Ghoul, 27, and Ashraf Murad Saadi, 17, all from the city of Jenin.

One of the militants that were eliminated was Ashraf Murad al-Saadi,
Just a 17 years old pic.twitter.com/kAanQvxhr3

— Adin – עדין (@AdinHaykin1) June 21, 2023

Pictures from the burnt out vehicle clearly shows the trio were in possession of heavy firearms. They were confirmed to be members of Palestinian Islamic Jihad and the Al Quds Martyrs Brigade. There mission was to attack and murder Israelis, and the IDF stopped them in their tracks.

In total, four Palestinian children lost their lives this week. But it appears that every single one of them was a member of Palestinian Islamic Jihad. We must remember that PIJ is a terrorist group that is outlawed in much of the world. Israel is dealing with these terrorists on their doorstep, and is actively having to engage with them in intense conflict situations. Israel will do all it can to protect civilian lives, especially children, but when the enemy is arming them and using them to carry out terror attacks, it is unfortunately inevitable children will get hurt.

As former Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir said, “We can forgive the Arabs for killing our children. We cannot forgive them for forcing us to kill their children. We will only have peace with the Arabs when they love their children more than they hate us.”

Using children as soldiers is a war crime. The world must condemn Palestinian terror groups for recruiting, training and using them. Israel is not to blame for this atrocity, Palestinian terrorism is.

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