Israel Defence Forces use civilians in Gaza as human shields, says Haaretz

An investigation published by Israel’s Haaretz newspaper on Tuesday revealed that the Israeli army is using civilians as human shields systematically when combing tunnels and buildings in the Gaza Strip. The newspaper added that the Israeli army’s Chief of Staff, Herzl Halevi, is among the senior officers aware of the use of Palestinians in Gaza as human shields.

Using a series of testimonies from soldiers and commanders in the occupation army, Haaretz revealed that it sends young men from Gaza who are not suspected of being armed to various Israeli army units. They are kept by the units as detainees and sent to accompany troops when searching tunnels and homes in the Strip.

“They’re usually wearing Israeli army uniforms, many of them are in their 20s, and they’re always with Israeli soldiers of various ranks. But if you look more closely, you see that most of them are wearing sneakers, not army boots. And their hands are cuffed behind their backs and their faces are full of fear.”

The left-of-centre newspaper added that, “Random Palestinians have been used by Israeli army units in the Gaza Strip for one purpose: to serve as human shields for soldiers during operations.”

Haaretz quoted Israeli soldiers as saying, “Our lives are more important than their lives,” adding that, “The thinking is that it’s better for the Israeli soldiers to remain alive and for the shawishim (the term used for Palestinians used as human shields) to be the ones blown up by an explosive device.”

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