First-hand account details Israeli cruelty to children

Amid shocking revelations that Israeli soldiers employed Palestinian children as human shields during the war on Gaza, a former Israeli military commander explains how Palestinian minors are treated on an ongoing basis.

Palestinian youth are arrested on a regular basis, usually for hurling stones at Israeli soldiers -- something many of them consider the only means of venting their frustration over the military occupation of their homeland.

In a new interview with the BBC, Eran Efrati explained how the routine ill-treatment of Palestinian children in custody takes place.

"You take the kid, you blindfold him, you handcuff him, he's really shaking... Sometimes you cuff his legs too. Sometimes it cuts off the circulation. He doesn't understand a word of what's going on around him," he said.

"He doesn't know what you're going to do with him. He just knows we are soldiers with guns. That we kill people. Maybe they think we're going to kill him." More