By Romana Rubeo 
Based on testimonies from Israeli soldiers and commanders, the investigation revealed that Palestinian civilians are usually dressed in Israeli army uniforms.
The Israeli army is systematically using Palestinian civilians as human shields during its genocidal war in the Gaza Strip, the Isreali newspaper Haaretz revealed on Tuesday.
The investigation revealed that Palestinian civilians are being used by Israeli army units in the Gaza Strip for the specific purpose of serving as human shields for soldiers during operations. “In recent months, Israeli soldiers have used human shields in this way all over Gaza,” the paper noted.
The investigation also indicated that Israeli senior military officials, including the Army Chief of Staff, Herzi Halevi, are aware of the use of this unlawful practice.
“Sources say that IDF Chief of Staff Herzl Halevi is among the senior officers aware of the use of Gazans as human shields,” the report stated.
I translated Al Jazeera’s exclusive report on footage showing Palestinians being used as human shields
The footage reveals instances such as forcing men to search for explosives, tying them with ropes & throwing them into tunnels, and using injured to search for fighters pic.twitter.com/hEla1ZFoq1
— Younis Tirawi | يونس (@ytirawi) June 30, 2024
Based on testimonies from Israeli soldiers and commanders, the investigation revealed that Palestinian civilians, often in their 20s, are usually dressed in Israeli army uniforms.
“But if you look more closely, you see that most of them are wearing sneakers, not army boots,” it noted, adding that “their hands are cuffed behind their backs and their faces are full of fear.”
The Israeli soldiers reportedly refer to them as ‘shawish’, “an obscure Arabic word of Turkish origin meaning sergeant.”
‘Our Lives are More Important’
According to the report, Israeli soldiers have been told that “our lives are more important than their lives” to justify the use of Palestinians as human shields to minimize Israeli casualties.
The report described how civilians are forced to perform dangerous tasks, such as entering tunnels or buildings ahead of the soldiers, wearing a military uniform and with a camera attached to their bodies.
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“In one case, an Israeli soldier who took part in a raid on a building said one of the units had a Gazan dressed in white overalls,” the report stated.
“As part of an attempt to make armed Palestinians inside the building come out, the Gazan was sent there as a kind of mediator. But the attempt failed and the armed men shot the man,” it added.
“There is pride in it,” an Israeli soldier is cited as saying.
Al-Jazeera Footage
According to Haaretz, “the army has played innocent, despite footage shown on Al-Jazeera about two months ago.”
The reference is to footage reportedly showing “Israeli soldiers dressing Palestinian detainees in uniforms and flak jackets, putting cameras on them and sending them into badly damaged houses and tunnel entrances with their hands bound by plastic ties.”
“When I saw the report from Al-Jazeera, I said: ‘Ah, yes, it’s true’,” a combat soldier who used Gazans as human shields is reported as saying, adding: “And then I saw the IDF’s response, which totally doesn’t reflect reality. It’s done with the knowledge of the brigade commander, at the least.”
Minors and Elderly
Haaretz also reported that Israeli soldiers often use minors or the elderly as human shields.
“There were times when really old people were made to go into houses,” a soldier told the Isreali newspaper.
International humanitarian law strictly forbids the use of civilians and other protected persons as human shields.
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According to a recent report by Medecins sans Frontiers, “using a civilian or other protected person as a shield for military operations is a clear violation of IHL and is also considered a war crime. This definition is expressly stated in the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC), under art. 8(2)(b)(xxiii) for war crimes committed during an international armed conflict.”
(The Palestine Chronicle)
– Romana Rubeo is an Italian writer and the managing editor of The Palestine Chronicle. Her articles appeared in many online newspapers and academic journals. She holds a Master’s Degree in Foreign Languages and Literature and specializes in audio-visual and journalism translation.
Pigs, cowards and scumbags. Zionists, the filth of humanity, are not even trying to hide it anymore. However, the scumbags, Zionists and their allies, tend to forget that rabid dogs are more rampant before they perish. The end of the cancer of the Middle East is looming in the distance.