Soldiers used boy as human shield

JERUSALEM - TWO Israeli soldiers received suspended sentences and demotions on Sunday for using a Palestinian child as a human shield by making him check for bombs during the 2008-2009 Gaza war, army radio said.

The radio's correspondent, who attended the hearing, said the two were each given suspended sentences of three months imprisonment and were demoted from the rank of staff sergeant to sergeant.

The soldiers were convicted on Oct 3 of 'exceeding their authority to the point of endangering life,' and 'conduct unbecoming' members of the armed forces, for forcing a nine-year-old boy to search bags confiscated from arrested Palestinians and suspected of being booby-trapped.

During the trial, the boy, identified as Majd R, said he feared for his life. 'I thought they would kill me. I became very scared and wet my pants,' he said in an affidavit given to Defence for Children International (DCI), a Geneva-based group.

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