Israeli non-governmental organization (NGO) and media outlet Haaretz has exposed the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF)’s atrocities against Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip. The IDF systematically uses Palestinian civilians as human shields during its military operations in Gaza.
Civilians enter and clear tunnels and buildings they suspect have been booby-trapped. “This practice is so widespread among the units fighting in Gaza that it could be considered protocol,” said Nadav Weiman, executive director of Breaking the Silence, a group founded by Israeli combat veterans to document military abuses.
The group has gathered testimonies describing the practice from veterans of the 10-month war in Gaza. The accounts they heard are consistent with an investigative report by the Haaretz newspaper that said the chief of staff’s office was aware of the practice.
“Senior officials know this,” one source involved in the search for civilians to serve as human shields told the newspaper. “Our lives are more important than theirs,” Haaretz quoted their army commanders as saying.
The practice is said to be so routine that the IDF has a name for the human shields, called Shawish, an informal slang term for low-ranking soldiers, and the process was described by several witnesses.
“Palestinian civilians, mostly young men, are picked up by Israeli soldiers wearing Israeli army uniforms and then sent to tunnels and destroy houses in front of Israeli forces,” the soldier told Haaretz and Breaking the Silence.
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Their hands were tied and cameras were attached to their bodies as they entered. “The Palestinians were told, ‘Do one mission, go through the tunnel and you are free,'” Haaretz quoted one soldier as saying.
The men were later reportedly released to join their families, according to soldiers who spoke to Haaretz and Breaking the Silence who said they were civilians who posed no military threat and were being held only for the clearance operation.
Footage of Palestinian civilians, including some in IDF uniforms, being sent into destroyed buildings was obtained by Al Jazeera and broadcast in July. Breaking the Silence said it had heard reports of civilians being used as human shields since the early stages of the war in Gaza.
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At first they thought it was one of the commanders acting illegally. But testimonies began to come in from soldiers stationed throughout the region.
“We heard it from different units, fighting at different times, and different places in Gaza,” Weiman said. “Then we understood that this was something much broader or even, I would say protocol in the IDF,” he said.
One soldier was told that Palestinian civilians were being used to replace explosives-searching dog units because too many dogs were dying. “Many soldiers have raised concerns about a practice that is illegal under international and Israeli law,” Weiman said.
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In Israel in 2005, the Supreme Court banned the use of Palestinians as human shields in response to a petition challenging the military’s neighborly procedures in the West Bank. The petition concerned soldiers forcing civilians to precede them when they raided homes there.
Haaretz also reported heated exchanges, including shouting, between soldiers and the commander who ordered the use of human shields. “Most of them realize there is a problematic incident here and it is difficult for them to process it,” one of the sources said.
The IDF said the use of human shields was prohibited. Orders had been clarified to troops in the field and the allegations reported by Haaretz would be reviewed.
“IDF orders and directives prohibit the use of Gazan civilians captured in the field for military missions that endanger them,” a spokesman said.
Reports of the Israel Defense Forces’ use of civilian human shields come after the Israeli military repeatedly justified attacks on civilian targets, including schools and hospitals, by accusing Hamas of using them and using the people inside as human shields.
“How can we say such things after we have used Palestinians as human shields?” Weiman concluded. (Theguardian/Z-2)
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