Well, at least Wasfi also blames the terrorists for putting the children at risk. But the kids were 10 and 12 years old, why haven't their parents taught them not to play near rocket launchers? And why blame Israel when they merely defend themselves?

At first Carl in Jerusalem thought it was no accident: I'm sorry but there is NO excuse for sending ten and twelve-year olds to retrieve rocket launchers or on any other kind of 'military' mission.

I also thought this was the most likely explanation. Later, an IDF investigation indicated that the three children were playing tag. Still, the IDF did the right thing:

Israel Matzav,
Why 'Palestinian' children get killed

So this time the lesson is not that the 'Palestinians' send their children to be canon fodder and retrieve missile launchers. Instead, this time the lesson is that the 'Palestinians' endanger their children's lives by shooting Kassams from civilian areas. Either way, the 'Palestinians' are violating the Geneva Convention which says that terrorists cannot immunize themselves by hiding behind civilians. That's what the 'Palestinians' are doing every time they fire a rocket from a residential area.

But just because the children were playing tag doesn't mean someone didn't send them out purposely to play in that area. I left the following comment on Carl's blog post above:

It could also be argued that HAMAS sends out children to play near rocket launchers to see if the IDF has it in their sights. If the children, whose lives are cheap anyway, don't get killed than it's safe for the adults to go out and launch some rockets.

As usual, Reuters News Agency Alters IDF Statement about the incident.

For Islamic thugs it's a win-win situation. If the IDF sees the children they hold their fire and they are safe or if the IDF mistakes the children for adults and kills the children, they are still safe:

Yourish,
22 Aug 2007,
The narrative changes

Funny how over the last few days, the IDF scored more than a few hits on terrorists, and the media mostly ignored it—because the terrorists were effectively caught red-handed launching rockets at Israeli towns. There was no "poor, poor, pitiful Pals” narrative to go with the story—just naked attempted murder on Israeli civilians.

Until yesterday. Yesterday, the IDF killed two boys when it launched its own rockets at a rocket-launching crew—and it turns out, the narrative is a little different. You see, Palestinians have been using children to retrieve their rocket launchers after firing kassams at Israel, because they know that if the IDF sees that there are children nearby, they will hold their fire. It’s a common practice, long known by the IDF, and long hidden from the public by the AP, Reuters, or any other major news media. And while the current news stories actually acknowledge this practice, the media are using weasel-wording and their tried-and-true practice of burying that fact far enough into the story as to not make your average newspaper’s "World” section, which carries only the first three to five paragraphs of a story, and sometimes only the first two.

But you will rarely see the deaths of Israeli children being reported:

CAMERA,
16 Dec 2004,
The ABC's of One-Sided Journalism

The Dec. 11 "World News Tonight Saturday” report with Geoff Morrell, entitled "Children in the Crossfire,” focused on Palestinian children accidentally killed during recent Israeli counter-terror operations, but ignored the stories of Israeli children on both sides of the Green Line injured and killed in Palestinian Kassam rocket attacks originating from Gaza.

The segment opens with the funeral of a seven-year-old Palestinian girl who had been killed the day before, but makes no mention of the wounding of a seven-year-old Israeli boy by rockets from Gaza also on Dec. 10. In his introduction to the report, anchorman Bob Woodruff reports that "the girl was shot as soldiers fired on militants in the town of Khan Younis after a mortar attack,” completely disregarding the fact that the mortar attack on Neve Dekalim wounded four young Israelis, including an 18-year-old student from Belgium who was visiting relatives, a 26-year-old resident of the community, an 18-year-old resident who suffered a stomach wound, and 7-year-old Nehemia Kirshensaft who was critically injured when his lung was pierced by shrapnel.

Seems a bit unfair.

The truth is, there are no innocent children in Gaza:

Betar,
20 Mar 2004,
Why Palestinian children die

Gaza Strip May 15, 2002 -- Abu Ali, like many 12-year-olds living in Gaza, has dreams of eternity. But the Palestinian boy's hopes are rooted in a grim reality: "I hope to be a martyr," he said.
"I hope when I get to 14 or 15 to explode myself."His mother, Om Muhammed, is eager to help her son, one of six children, accomplish his goal. She helps him tug on a toy suicide bomber costume in her living room as she serves mint tea to a visitor.

Golda Meir: "Peace will come when the Arabs will love their children more than they hate us."

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