November 1, 2008
Bethlehem – Ma’an – Moments after seeing a young child playing with what was in fact a toy gun, Israeli forces deployed in three neighborhoods south of Bethlehem and beseiged the area.
The main road between Bethlehem and Hebron was closed for two hours as armed soldiers searched the area, ransacking several homes and destroying furniture in a frantic search for the supposed weapon.
When residents demanded to know the justification for the disruptions, soldiers insisted that someone had witnessed a child holding a rifle. A local family then presented their child, with his toy gun, to the soldiers.
The soldiers reportedly jumped back, fearful before the child, who showed them the toy. Hesitantly, soldiers took the plastic rifle from the boy, and eventually went on their way, residents told Ma’an.