Israel’s army routinely forces detained and innocent Palestinian civilians to be human shields, an investigation from Israeli outlet Haaretz has found. Several sources testified that this was done with the knowledge of senior officers. That includes IDF chief of staff Herzl Halevi.

Haaretz quoted Israeli soldiers who said:

our lives are more important than their lives.

One example of “human shielding in action”, in the words of Francesca Albanese, the UN’s special rapporteur to the occupied Palestinian territory, happened in June where Israeli forces tied an injured Palestinian man to a military vehicle, driving with him on top.

And in January, Israeli forces used a Palestinian shop owner as a human shield in the occupied West Bank. That’s after they raided his mobile phone shop.

Israel’s use of human shields goes back a long way

This conduct precedes Israel’s ongoing, genocidal assault. Defence for Children International reported in May 2023 that Israeli forces used four Palestinian children, including two toddlers, as human shields. In the occupied West Bank, Israeli forces made the Palestinian children stand in front of military vehicles. At the same time, they launched tear gas and live ammunition at Palestinian people confronting their raid.

Defence for Children International further reported on Israeli forces using a 16 year old Palestinian as a human shield in February 2023. Israeli forces handcuffed him and forced him to walk in front of them during a military incursion into the occupied West Bank. Simultaneously, they fired live ammunition and then killed two other Palestinians.

Back in 2013, the UN reported on the Israeli army using Palestinian children as shields. It cited numerous cases between January 2010 and March 2013.

“Almost all those using children as human shields… have remained unpunished and the soldiers convicted for having forced at gunpoint a nine-year-old child to search bags suspected of containing explosives only received a suspended sentence of three months and were demoted”, the UN report said.

The use of human shields is a war crime under international law.

Featured image via Firstpost – YouTube

By James Wright

This post was originally published on Canary.