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‘Our lives are more important than their lives’: Gazans not suspected of terrorism are detained and sent as human shields to search tunnels and houses before IDF soldiers enter, with the full knowledge of senior Israeli officers, several sources say; IDF claims this practice is forbidden

    • Keeponstalin@lemmy.world
      281·
      3 months ago

      After the decision, it was still done in military operations

      About a year later, in October 2005, the HCJ issued its judgment, ruling that any use of Palestinian civilians during military actions is forbidden, including the “prior warning procedure”.

      However, soldiers continue to occasionally use Palestinians as human shields even after the court ruling, especially during military operations. Despite the fact this violates an HCJ ruling, the security establishment, including the military law enforcement system, has responded feebly – if at all.

      For example, over the course of Operation Cast Lead, which took place in Gaza from December 2008 to January 2009, B’Tselem and other organizations were informed of incidents in which soldiers used Palestinians as human shields. The vast majority of these reports were never investigated, and those that did resulted in no further action. Soldiers were prosecuted in one case only. The two soldiers in question had ordered a nine-year-old boy, at gunpoint, to open a bag they suspected was booby-trapped. Despite the gravity of their conduct – putting a young child at risk – the two were given a three-month conditional sentence and demoted from staff sergeant to private, some two years after the incident took place. None of their commanding officers were tried.

      During Operation Protective Edge in Gaza, in 2014, B’Tselem again received testimonies regarding soldiers’ use of Palestinians as human shields. This time, no one was prosecuted.

  • filister@lemmy.world
    35·
    3 months ago

    So pretty much the IDF is doing everything they are accusing Hamas of doing while claiming that they are the most moral army in the world.

    Does that make Hamas the most moral terrorist organisation in the world? Or simply show us that the IDF isn’t any better than Hamas?

  • Linkerbaan@lemmy.world
    16·
    3 months ago

    A soldier in a conscript army brigade added: "About five months ago, two Palestinians were brought to us. One was 20 and the other was 16. We were told: ‘Use them, they’re Gazans, use them as human shields.’"

    According to this soldier, that day, soldiers in the unit began to ask questions about this use of civilians as human shields; they also wanted to know who gave the order.

    According to the soldier, “They tried to say something about October 7, not something concrete. One person said: ‘Don’t beat them too much because we need them to open the locations’” where troops need to enter, such as buildings and tunnels.

    He added: "One of the commanders turned to one of the combat soldiers who tried to receive answers and told him: 'You don’t agree that the lives of your friends are much more important than their lives? And isn’t it better that our friends will live and not be blown up by an explosive device, and that they get blown up by an explosive device?"

    The next day the teenager was released. He was taken to a checkpoint and told to walk south. “Then we finally realized that these weren’t really terrorists but civilians who were taken especially for these operations,” the soldier said.