JERUSALEM (JTA) — Two Israeli soldiers are on trial for allegedly using a Palestinian boy as a human shield during the Gaza war.
The staff sergeants went on trial Wednesday in a military court. Both have professed their innocence.
One of the accused said in an interview with Army Radio that the two soldiers were being offered as scapegoats to the international community, which has been critical of Operation Cast Lead.
The soldiers are accused of ordering a 9-year-old boy to open bags that they suspected of being booby-trapped in a Gaza City neighborhood.
