Gaza residents say IDF soldiers looted their homes

Gaza residents say they were subjected to inhuman treatment at the hands of IDF soldiers conducting searches in their homes as part of the army's recent efforts to combat Palestinian terror.

The complainants say they were confined to stairwells for hours on end without access to food, water or a toilet. The Palestinians further claimed soldiers vandalized and looted their homes. The IDF confirmed it had received complaints and said it had begun investigating the charges.

Maher Abu-Daha'a says he will never forget the day soldiers stormed his house, located near the southern town of Khan Younis, just east of the border fence. "It was hell; the mental scars will remain for a long time. We have never experienced such brutality," he said.

Last weekend a large IDF force entered the Strip as part of increased counterterrorism operations in the region. Soldiers questioned locals about the attempted bombing of a border crossing last month, in which Palestinian groups rigged an armored carrier with explosives and planned to detonate it in conjunction with the attack against the Kerem Shalom crossing. But the vehicle never reached its destination, having become entrenched in the sand.

"At least 150 soldiers took over the house," Abu Daha'a recounted, "my house is 180 square meters (1,937 square feet) large, but they (the soldiers) forced me, my wife and our baby to wait in the stairwell from 2:00 am until 10:00 or 11:00 pm. My hands were tied behind my back, and when I complained they placed a band-aid over my mouth and blindfolded me."

He said he was permitted to go to the bathroom only after an eight-hour wait. His wife, Umm Karim, said the soldiers refused to allow her to boil water needed to warm a bottle of milk for her baby.

According to Karim, she could not go to the bathroom because soldiers demanded that she leave the door open and was therefore forces to urinate fully-dressed. She said the soldiers also pointed their weapons toward the baby when he screamed.

'Hamas will only grow stronger'

Abu Daha'a said that after the search was completed he was taken outside and placed inside a tank that then patrolled the area for several hours; according to him, the soldiers used him as a human shield. He said was later taken to the Kerem Shalom crossing for questioning along with nine other Palestinians.

"What if militants would have fired a missile at the tank or set off a bomb beside it? I told them 'I am an unarmed civilian, why must I be in this tank?'"

Abu Daha'a said that upon his arrival at the crossing an IDF officer suggested that he purchase a home far from the security fence to prevent any additional confrontations with the army.

"He told me that the IDF would thoroughly investigate my complaints regarding the damage done to my property and the soldiers' offensive behavior, but these are Jews we are dealing with – complaining won't do any good. Only Allah will help," he said.

"We felt as though we were in Guantanamo; we were stripped naked and left without food and water for hours. Only at around 9:00 pm were we given a sandwich after we demanded some food."

Abu Daha'a said that when he heard the soldiers knock on their door he instructed his wife to hide the family's stash of money on her person. "A neighbor of mine did not have time to hide his money and the soldiers stole NIS 1000 ($290) from him. These are thieves and sons of thieves, and I prepared accordingly."

The neighbor said he had complained to the commanding officer about the purported looting, but the soldiers denied stealing any money.

"The theft was only a small part of the nightmare," he said, "at 1:00 am at least 50 soldiers entered my home, tied my hands behind my back and blindfolded me. They put me, my wife and our two children, aged four and six, in one room. Since my children are hard of hearing, they began to yell and I begged the soldiers to bring their hearing aids from the living room. They agreed only after I pleaded with them."

The neighbor also claimed that his wife was forced to urinate fully-clothed after they refused to let her shut the bathroom door.

"The slept in our house, and when they changed clothes in front of us they made rude gestures with their hands and private parts," he said.

Abu Daha'a said that during his interrogation he was asked why Hamas was so popular in Gaza. He said his response was that support for Hamas increases whenever its members "fight the invading soldiers."

"The longer you continue with these policies, the stronger Hamas will grow," he told his interrogators.