IDF forcing Palestinians to enter suspected booby-trapped homes

Israel Defense Forces soldiers are forcing Palestinians to enter and search houses that are suspected to be booby-trapped, according to recent testimony by soldiers participating in such actions.

In other cases, the Palestinians are forced to pick up suspicious objects so that soldiers can proceed along the roads these objects were blocking, soldiers said.

The army has repeatedly denied the existence of such procedures.

One reserve officer who participated in the takeover of the Jenin refugee camp said Sunday that he and his comrades had ordered Palestinian residents to precede them into suspicious houses.

"We suspected that the houses were booby-trappped, because the terrorists set bombs in many apartments to hurt us," he said. "We preferred to have the Palestinians that lived in these houses enter them. They know the house, and it is also reasonable to assume that the bombs will not be used against them."