In every round of war, Israel accused Hamas and other resistance groups in Gaza of using civilians as human shields, while constantly claiming that they adhere to international laws.
In this war that erupted on October 7, Israel used the claim extensively to justify the high death toll in Gaza.
The accusation was even used by pro-Israeli social media users and officials to justify Israel’s collective punishment of civilians in the Gaza Strip.
Recently, in Michigan, where large Arab and Muslim populations live, former President of the United States Bill Clinton justified the killing of civilians in Gaza at a rally for Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris.
Clinton said that he understood people’s concerns in Michigan about the bloodshed in Gaza, but Israel had no choice but to kill large numbers as it just wanted “to defend itself,” because “Hamas makes sure that it is shielded by civilians.”
However, while Israel continues to make this accusation as justification for the mass killing of civilians, its soldiers in Gaza voluntarily provided testimonies and photos of using human shields in Gaza.
Misbar traced Israeli soldiers’ posts on social media and testimonies of the civilians in the Strip to document the use of civilians as human shields.
Human Shields: Israel’s Ongoing Methodology in Justifying the Mass Killing
Attributing the mass death toll in Gaza to the use of human shields by Hamas has been Israel’s strategy in the strikes it launched on Gaza that resulted in high casualties.
In August, Israel bombed Tabeen school in Gaza, killing more than 100 Palestinians.
The Israeli military claimed that Hamas fighters were among the civilians in the school. A list of 19 alleged Hamas seniors and fighters was shared by the IOF officials claiming that they eliminated them in that deadly strike.
Upon analyzing the list, it turned out the names included three names of young men who were previously killed by Israel and four members who had never engaged in any political or military activities.
In June, when Israel massacred 274 Palestinians in Nuseirat camp in southern Gaza to release four Israeli prisoners, Israel repeatedly justified the IOF spokesperson saying that the presence of the prisoners in the heart of the civilian population showed that Hamas uses civilians as human shields.
However, interviews with the IOF soldiers revealed that they were deliberately killing everyone in sight.
In an interview with the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth, the commander of the 200th Squadron which operates the Israeli Air Force’s fleet of drones, said, "We attacked on the side of the street to drive civilians away, and anyone who did not flee, even if they were unarmed - as far as we were concerned, were a terrorist. Everyone we killed should have been killed."
Apart from the Israeli use of this claim to justify the mass killing in Gaza and by tracing Israeli methodology in Gaza, Misbar found that Israel is explicitly using civilians as human shields.
Mosquito Protocol: Israel’s Methodology in Inspecting Suspected Booby-trapped Areas
The Israeli army is using a style called the mosquito protocol in which Israeli soldiers force Palestinians to inspect apartments and suspected booby-trapped areas.
A recent report by CNN tells how Palestinians, adults and children, were used by the IOF as human shields.
An IOF soldier said that the Israeli military had forced Palestinians to inspect suspected booby-trapped houses and tunnels in Gaza. According to the soldier, the practice was prevalent among Israeli units in Gaza to avoid harming themselves. “If there are any booby traps, they will explode and not us,” the soldier explained.
Mohammed Saad, 20, was one of the civilians in the Gaza Strip who were abducted by Israeli soldiers while trying to secure food for himself and his younger brothers.
In an interview with Al Jazeera, Saad said that after he was detained, blindfolded, and tied up by the Israeli military while kept for 3 days without food, water, or access to the bathroom, he was taken with others to a military base inside Rafah to be used as a human shield.
According to Saad, he was forced to wear a military uniform for the missions.
Saad added that whenever the detainees refused to go to the missions, Israeli soldiers would beat them with weapons.
In his final mission with the IOF, Saad said that he was forced to film a tank left by the IOF with but with his civilian clothes, instead of the military uniform. When he moved about 10 meters away from the army, he was shot by the Israeli soldiers.
Misbar observed that children, not just adults, were being used as human shields.
Mohammed Shbeir, 17, said in his interview with Al Jazeera and CNN that he was taken captive after his father and sister were killed in an airstrike on their house in Khan Younis.
Shbeir said that he was used as a human shield for a week and a half and forced to go into missions in the demolished houses and places that could contain landmines.
The 17-year-old boy added that he was forced to inspect approximately 10 houses.
Dr. Yahya Khalil Al-Kayali, 59, was also used by the Israeli military as a human shield.
Al-Kayali said in his interview with CNN that he was abducted by Israeli soldiers when he was seeking refuge in A-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City in March.
The leader of the Israeli soldiers who raided Al-Shifa Hospital asked Al-Kayali to go out of the building to find any open holes or tunnels under the ground.
The soldiers told Al-Kayali to enter every room of every apartment to search for fighters and booby traps. The cannons of the Israeli tanks stood ready to fire all along in case Hamas fighters were uncovered.
According to Al-Kayali, he was used to inspect as many as 80 apartments by the IOF.
Abu Amer, an old man interviewed by Al Jazeera, said that he was used along with other men as human shields, while other young men were shot by the Israeli soldiers.
According to Abu Amer, the mosquito protocol was applied to him too as he was ordered to enter buildings to inspect it.
Pieces of footage obtained by Al Jazeera support the testimonies above.
In June 2024, Al Jazeera published a clip showing two Palestinian-detained men in Gaza in a military uniform used to inspect buildings.
The detained men were made to wear a blue bracelet to distinguish them from the Israeli soldiers.
The detained men were used to digging in the ground searching for a tunnel, and if found, a man would go to inspect it while hanging a camera on his body.
In the footage provided by Al Jazeera, the detained man who was forced to inspect the tunnel was provided with a rope and a camera that linked him to a spot outside of the tunnel.
In another footage, a man stripped from his clothes and tied up was forced to inspect a damaged building wearing mere socks.
Previously, Israeli soldiers used a man to inspect an area in Al-Shujayya neighborhood fearing the bombs and landmines.
IOF’s Accounts Reveal Evidence of Using Civilians as Human Shields
Israeli soldiers post photos of themselves having fun while using a Palestinian as a human shield.
On October 29, the Israeli soldier Shir Balaly uploaded a story on his Instagram account where he appears in the photo having fun with the other soldiers in Jabalia, Gaza while detaining a Palestinian man.
The detained man in the photo was wearing a military uniform while being blindfolded. Judging from the build of the man, he could be in his twenties or a bit younger, which tallies with the Israeli soldier’s aforementioned testimony that most of the civilians used as human shields are in their twenties and could be younger.
The presence of such a detainee in a military uniform among IOF soldiers can only be explained by the likelihood that he is being used by the soldiers as a human shield.
The story was later deleted. However, Younis Tirawi, a Palestinian journalist who specializes in tracing Israeli soldiers’ accounts, revealed that the soldiers shown in the video are First Sergeant Tamir Camisa and First Sergeant Maor Seren, along with the story uploader, First Sergeant Shir Balaly, all of whom serve in the Givati Brigade, Rotem 435 Battalion, the Latak Platoon of the Operational Company Mitzvait.
The appearance of these three soldiers in one photo while using a human shield most likely means that the act was done with the acknowledgment of their senior commanders, who in this case are four commanders, from the Battalion Commander to the Latak Platoon Commander.
In several videos obtained from the locations where Israeli military operations were active, detained Palestinians could be seen used to inspect buildings by the IOF.
Israeli Commanders Give Orders to Use Palestinian Civilians as Human Shields
The Israeli newspaper Haaretz published an article that tallies with the testimonies provided by Palestinians who were used as human shields in Gaza.
A soldier in the Israeli army confirmed to Haaretz that while he was in his service, a commander brought two Palestinians, one was 20 and the other was 16, to be used as human shields.
The use of human shields is known and acknowledged by the Israeli commanders.
IOF Chief of Staff Herzl Halevi is among the senior officers aware of the use of Gazans as human shields. The head of the Southern Command, Maj. Gen. Yaron Finkelman, knows as well.
According to the Israeli soldiers who were ordered to use Palestinians as human shields, seniors ordered them to keep the Palestinian civilians handcuffed and to ensure that they did not escape or enter the rooms and floors where the commanders were.
Breaking the Silence, the Israeli organization giving serving and discharged Israeli personnel and reservists a means to recount their experiences while serving in the Israeli ground operations in the Palestinian territories was told by an Israeli soldier that Israeli soldiers who questioned the act of using human shields were often given the deaf ear by the commanders, implying that there was little room for the soldiers to express doubts.
When the soldier tried to receive answers, a commander said to him, “You don't agree that the lives of your friends are much more important than their lives? And isn't it better that our friends will live and not be blown up by an explosive device, and that they get blown up by an explosive device?”
Nonetheless, once a commander gave answers to the questions of the soldiers. The soldiers were told that dogs of the Oketz canine unit were getting killed in the inspecting missions, or their operational senses deteriorated, so the use of civilians as human shields was the solution for them.
Breaking the Silence also shared that when soldiers mentioned the term “international law” before a battalion commander, the commander told them that a soldier does not need to take an interest in the laws of war and just needs to think about the Israeli army’s values and act accordingly to them, not to the laws of war.
Israel Repeatedly Commits War Crimes Under International Law
When putting the testimonies of the Israeli soldiers as well as the Palestinians who were used as human shields together, it becomes evident that all of the Palestinians used were civilians who have no relations to military groups in the Strip.
All testimonies share the fact that the Palestinians were released after being used, which is the strategy adopted by the Israeli army with prisoners who have no connection to Hamas or other armed groups.
Under international law, the use of a civilian to render military forces immune from military operations constitutes a war crime.
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