Islamic Jihad, Hamas Hold Military Summer Camps for Children
Islamic Jihad has launched its summer camps, which include a military program for children, sparking internal Palestinian debate.
On a military training site belonging to Al-Quds Brigades in the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, 12-year-old Musaab, wearing camouflaged fatigues and his face painted for combat, carried a Kalashnikov assault rifle as he took position with other similarly garbed children behind some barbed wire. They were simulating an attack on an Israeli military outpost, aimed at kidnapping one of its soldiers. The assault was subsequently followed by cheers and praise to almighty God for the success of their “military operation.”
This exercise came as part of a military parade that concluded the weeklong “Generation of Faith” summer camp, which targeted school children ages 12 to 17, and was organized by Islamic Jihad and supervised by its Al-Quds Brigades' military wing.
