(Adnkronos) – Since the beginning of the war in Gaza, Israeli soldiers and intelligence agents have used captured Palestinians, including minors, as human shields, forcing them to search for Hamas explosives among rubble, in tunnels, generators and water tanks, to avoid putting the lives of Israeli soldiers at risk. This is the complaint of a long investigation by the New York Times, based on interviews with 16 Israeli soldiers and officers and 3 Palestinians. Like Mohammed Shubeir who last March, when he was 17, was detained by the Israelis for 10 days.
Before being released, without charge, the boy was forced to walk handcuffed through the rubble of his city, Khan Younis, to search for Hamas explosives. “The soldiers sent me as if I were a dog in a mined apartment,” the high school student told the Times, recounting that in a half-destroyed building he saw a series of explosive trigger wires on the walls. “I thought those were the last moments of my life,” he added.
The American newspaper, which admits it does not know the extent of the use of these operations, which are illegal under both Israeli and international law, says they have been used by at least 11 squadrons in five cities in Gaza. In one case, an Israeli unit forced a group of displaced people to march in front of them towards a Hamas hideout in central Gaza City, according to Jehad Siam, a 31-year-old Palestinian graphic designer who was part of that group. “The soldiers told us to go ahead so they wouldn’t shoot from the other side,” he said.
The Times interviewed seven Israeli soldiers who participated in or witnessed these operations, which were presented as an organized routine, conducted with considerable logistical support and with the approval of senior officers. In many cases the detainees were handled by intelligence officers, which requires that battalions be coordinated and commanders be informed.
Major General Tamir Hayman, the former head of military intelligence who is periodically briefed on the conduct of the war, partly confirmed the practice, saying that some detainees were forced, others volunteered to guide them through the tunnels, in the hope of obtaining preferential treatment. But in a statement, the IDF recalled that “directives and guidelines prohibit the use of civilian detainees in Gaza for military operations,” adding that the testimonies reported by the Times will be “reviewed by the competent authorities.”
Some of the soldiers who, disturbed by these episodes, decided to take the risk of reporting military secrets to the press were put in touch with the Times by Breaking the Silence, an independent association that collects the testimonies of Israeli soldiers. Two of these soldiers said they opposed the practice, and that in response to their objections, officers justified it by claiming, without evidence, that the detainees were terrorists, rather than civilians detained without charge.
International law prohibits the use of civilians as human shields and also makes it illegal to send captured combatants to places where they could be exposed to fire. In 2005, the Israeli Supreme Court banned a procedure used by the Israeli military in Gaza and the West Bank in which Palestinian civilians were forced to approach the homes of militants to persuade them to surrender.
Since the beginning of the conflict after the attacks of October 7, Israel has defended itself against accusations about civilian casualties, claiming that Hamas has positioned fighters and weapons in residential areas, using entire communities as human shields. After invading Gaza in late October, the Israeli military found it too risky to enter homes and tunnels that Hamas had turned into booby traps. They began using sniffer dogs or drones, but – and this is the Times’ complaint – in some cases captured Palestinians.
The third testimony cited by the Times is that of Basheer Al-Dalou, a pharmacist from Gaza City, who was captured in his home on November 13. After being released without charge, al Dalou said that the military stripped him naked, handcuffed and blindfolded him, and after interrogating him, ordered him to enter the courtyard of a five-story building full of debris. “Behind me, three soldiers were pushing me violently, they were afraid that there were tunnels or hidden explosives,” he recalled, explaining that one of them hit him in the back with the butt of his rifle because he was hesitant to approach a large generator. Before being transferred to a detention center, he too was used as a human shield, being made to walk in front of an Israeli tank advancing towards a mosque.
