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Army using attack dogs to hunt down Palestinian labourers trying to find work in Israel


RAMADIN, Palestinian Territories (AFP) – Palestinians desperate for work in Israel will go to extremes to sneak past the West Bank barrier, but now they face a new hurdle -- army attack dogs sent to sniff them out.

Workers say the use of dogs to hunt down anyone trying to enter Israel illegally is a new phenomenon which has only been occurring for about two months.

But it is a development which has quickly spread fear and anger among the worker population living in the south Hebron Hills, one of the poorest areas in the occupied Palestinian territories.

Israeli human rights group B'Tselem is sceptical about the army's claim that the dogs are targeting militants bent on infiltrating the Jewish state, citing three cases in which dogs were set on unarmed Palestinians trying to cross into Israel to find casual work. more

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