Dead men 'bulldozed into piles'
2009-01-09 22:15
Gaza - A Palestinian man captured by
Israeli troops in Gaza said after his release on Friday that he
had seen the corpses of many Islamist fighters bulldozed into
piles covered with sand.
"They used a bulldozer to pile up the bodies of the dead.
There were bodies of many fighters," said the man, who was
released by the Israelis after five days of detention and
allowed to return to Gaza.
An Israeli army spokesperson said he had no knowledge of such
an incident.
The Palestinian gave his name as Eyad and said he saw the
bodies in Beit Lahiya, a town in north Gaza that was an early
objective in the ground offensive launched by Israel last
Saturday after its aircraft had bombed Gaza targets for a week.
Hamas has not revealed how many Gaza fighters have been
killed or wounded. The Israeli army said three days ago it had
killed more than 130 since ground combat started.
Israeli forces arrested hundreds of Palestinians as they
advanced into the Gaza Strip on an operation the government said
was intended to crush Hamas and stop the firing of rockets into
Israel.
Of about 200 held in Beit Lahiya, 75 were set free on
Friday. They looked pale and exhausted and were barefoot. They
crossed back into the Gaza Strip via Israel's fortified Erez
crossing in the north.
Eyad said they were first held as "human shields" inside
military positions established by the army, then moved to a
prison in Israel.
"In the first day (of the ground offensive) special forces
stormed Beit Lahiya. Maybe a thousand soldiers landed on
rooftops then began arresting people," he said.
"They also demolished houses they said were used to fire
rockets from, or to hide tunnels."
Once in detention, Palestinians were interrogated to find
out "who was firing rockets and who dug tunnels".
"They used us as human shields in military positions they
established inside Gaza Strip before they drove us to a prison
in Beersheba," he said. "They made us sleep on gravel, or on the
sand. They stripped us of our clothes."
During his five days in detention, new captives were being
brought in every day, the man said.
Israel attacked Gaza on December 27 after the Hamas Islamic
militants in control of the coastal strip ended a six-month truce,
saying the Israelis had violated a pledge to ease their blockade
on Gaza, and started firing more rockets at southern towns.
The rockets have killed four Israelis. The Israeli offensive
has killed 783 Palestinians. But Israel says it will continue
the operation until Hamas stops attacking southern Israel.