NYT Report: Israel’s Army Uses Palestinians as Human Shields in Gaza

The New York Times confirmed that "the Israeli army is using Palestinians as human shields in Gaza."

It said that "Israeli soldiers in Gaza forced Palestinian prisoners to carry out reconnaissance missions that threatened their lives throughout the war."

The newspaper quoted a testimony from a Palestinian named Mohammed Shabir, who was 17 years old at the time, that Israeli soldiers detained him for 10 days before releasing him without any charges, after he was found hiding with his family in Khan Yunis in southern Gaza in early March 2024.

Shabir indicated that "Israeli soldiers used him as a human shield, and forced him to walk handcuffed through the rubble of his city in search of explosives planted by the resistance, in order to avoid blowing himself up. In one of the destroyed buildings, he discovered wires connected to explosives along the wall."

He said that he was "sent like a dog to the booby-trapped apartment," believing that those might be the last moments of his life.

The newspaper's investigation found that Israeli soldiers and intelligence agents regularly forced Palestinian captives like Shabir to carry out life-threatening reconnaissance missions to avoid endangering Israeli soldiers on the battlefield throughout the war in Gaza.

“While the extent and scope of such operations are unknown, the practice, which is illegal under Israeli and international law, has been used by at least 11 Israeli squads in five Gaza cities, and has often involved officers from Israeli intelligence services,” the newspaper added.

According to the newspaper, “Palestinian detainees were forced to explore places in Gaza where the Israeli army believes Hamas fighters have set up an ambush or trap, a practice that has gradually become more widespread since the war began last October.”

It confirmed that “detainees were forced to explore and photograph tunnel networks where soldiers believe fighters are still hiding. They entered buildings rigged with mines to find hidden explosives, and were ordered to pick up or move items such as generators and water tanks that Israeli soldiers fear could be hidden tunnel entrances or booby traps.”

The newspaper interviewed seven Israeli soldiers who observed or participated in these abuses, describing them as “routine, common and organized, and carried out with extensive logistical support and the knowledge of their superiors on the battlefield.”

Several of them said that detainees were managed and moved between divisions by officers from Israeli intelligence agencies, a process that required coordination between battalions and senior field commanders. Although they served in different parts of Gaza at different points in the war, the soldiers largely used the same terminology to refer to human shields.

The Israeli newspaper Haaretz previously conducted an investigation into the Israeli army’s use of Palestinian civilians as human shields while searching for booby-trapped tunnels in the Gaza Strip, which included interviews and confessions from a number of soldiers. In July, the paper reported that Israeli Soldiers Filmed Using Detainees in Gaza as 'Human Shields'. In early August of this year, Haaretz Investigation found that Israeli Army uses Palestinian civilians to inspect potentially booby-trapped tunnels in Gaza. By mid-August, the editorial board of Haaretz concluded that "Israel's Use of Human Shields on the Battle Field Is a War Crime."

In July of this year, the BBC has obtained testimony from two men who say they were similarly forced to sit on the bonnet of a military vehicle during an Israeli military operation in the village of al-Jabariyat, outside the city of Jenin.

A source confirmed to the newspaper that senior officers in the Israeli army were aware of the soldiers’ practices and their use of Palestinians as human shields, including the Chief of Staff, Herzi Halevi.