Allegations of Using Palestinian Civilians as 'Human Shields' by the Israeli Army

An NGO along with the Haaretz newspaper in Israel has reported that Israeli soldiers are using Palestinian civilians 'as human shields' to enter tunnels and buildings suspected of housing bombs. Nadav Weiman, the executive director of the organization 'Breaking the Silence', stated that this approach has been used to such an extent among various units of the army in the Gaza war that it can be considered a 'protocol'. According to The Guardian, evidence gathered by 'Breaking the Silence' from soldiers who participated in the Gaza war over the past ten months regarding the use of civilians to enter and clear tunnels and booby-trapped buildings aligns with the investigations conducted by Haaretz in this regard. Haaretz reported that commanders have told soldiers that 'our lives are more important than their lives'. This allegation has emerged in Israeli media while Israel has consistently accused the extremist group Hamas of using the people of Gaza as human shields to conceal their forces and bases. Hamas, which is also classified as a terrorist group by the U.S. and Europe, denies this accusation. The reports from these two sources indicate that young Palestinian men are dressed in Israeli army uniforms and then sent into the entrances of tunnels or houses that have been previously damaged and are suspected of containing bombs to ensure that there is no bomb present. A camera attached to the uniform of the 'agent' shows the soldiers the status of the tunnel. According to Haaretz, Palestinians who participated in this 'mission' were later released and returned to their families. In response to the new investigation by Haaretz regarding the current Gaza war, the Israeli army stated that the use of human shields is prohibited and that orders in this regard have been 'clarified' for soldiers in the field. The army emphasized that it will investigate the allegations made in the Haaretz report. According to Nadav Weiman, many soldiers who participated in such operations have expressed concern about the incompatibility of this practice with Israeli and international laws. Al Jazeera had initially published a report on this issue in the spring of this year. The Israeli Supreme Court banned the use of Palestinians as human shields in operations conducted in the West Bank 19 years ago. Before the Supreme Court ruling, the army would send a Palestinian from the neighborhood of a house that needed to be searched to the wanted individual first. Israeli human rights organizations had complained to the Supreme Court. 'Breaking the Silence' is a group established by former Israeli soldiers to document military abuses years before the current Gaza war began. Haaretz, which participated in this investigation, is a left-wing newspaper critical of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his government.