<noinclude>Human shields in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict refers to tactics employed in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict where non-combatants are placed in the line of fire to prevent military objectives from being targeted without harming the non-combatant. The accusation of the use of human shields is a common theme in the conflict. The use of Palestinians as human shields by the Israel Defense Forces has been documented by human rights organizations. Hamas has also been accused of using human shields by Israel and its allies. In addition, international and Israeli activists have voluntarily used themselves as human shields to stop Israeli violence against Palestinians.
Background The law of armed conflict requires that warring parties distinguish between combatants and non-combatantsthe former may be legitimately killed, and the latter are protected. A human shield refers to the placement of a non-combatant in the line of fire, thus preventing the legitimate military objective from being targeted without harming the non-combatant.
Use by Israeli forces
The use of Palestinians as human shields by the Israeli Defense Forces has been documented by human rights organizations including Human Rights Watch, B'Tselem and Amnesty International, with some scholars in the area believing the IDF may be the only military force systematically engaging in this practice in recent decades. According to B'Tselem, IDF soldiers put Palestinian civilians in front of them or otherwise put civilians in the line of fire, and forcing Palestinians to remove suspicious objects (possible explosives). IDF soldiers also force Palestinian civilians to walk through suspected booby-trapped buildings. Israel also formerly employed the "neighbor procedure" in which Palestinian civilians were forced to attempt to persuade wanted individuals to surrender themselves to the IDF. The latter practice was defended by the Israeli defense ministry, but prohibited in 2005 by the Israeli Supreme Court, though there have been accusations of its employment even after the ruling. During the 2009 invasion of Gaza, the IDF reportedly used Palestinian families (both adult and children) as human shields. A Haaretz investigation found that Palestinians, dressed up as Israeli soldiers, are widely used by the IDF in the Gaza war as human shields to explore tunnels in the Gaza Strip.
The IDF has used civilians as human shields multiple times to discourage Palestinian combatants from attacking and to perform life-threatening tasks.
1948–1967 During the 1956–1957 occupation of the Gaza Strip by Israel (as part of the Suez Crisis), Israeli forces would search homes of suspected Palestinian fedayeen for weapons, caches or concealed fighters. Because these homes could have booby traps or snipers waiting for Israeli soldiers, they would use Palestinian children as human shields.
Second Intifada Israeli officials reported that the IDF made use of the "human shield" procedure on 1,200 occasions during the Second Intifada (2000–2005). This procedure resulted in at least one instance of a Palestinian civilian being killed: a 19-year-old called Nidal Abu-Mohsen. In April 2004, a 13-year-old Palestinian boy was photographed after being tied to an Israeli armored vehicle for the stated purpose of discouraging stone-throwing by Palestinian protesters.
According to Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) used Palestinian civilians as human shields during the 2002 Battle of Jenin. B'Tselem said that "for a long period of time following the outbreak of the Second Intifada, particularly during Operation Defensive Shield, in April 2002, the IDF systematically used Palestinian civilians as human shields, forcing them to carry out military actions which threatened their lives". Al Mezan reported the systematic use of human shields during the invasion of Beit Hanoun in 2004. Human shields were also employed by Israeli soldiers to subdue a stone-throwing protest in Hebron in 2003.
Amnesty gave the following example: on 5 April 2002, an IDF officer took a Palestinian man from his house and asked him to come with them. When the Palestinian man, whose children were around him, repeatedly refused, the IDF officer said "I would prefer not to use force". The IDF officer then grabbed the Palestinian man by the collar and forced him to walk in front of the IDF soldiers. The IDF officer crouched behind the Palestinian man and started firing. Over the course of several hours, IDF soldiers had him repeatedly stand in front of them as they fired at suspected Palestinian militants. During this time the Palestinian man asked to be released but the IDF refused. Finally during one incident the Palestinian man received a bullet on his leg and was finally released by the IDF.
In 2002 the Supreme Court of Israel issued a temporary injunction banning the practice in the wake of the death of 19-year-old Nidal Abu Mohsen, who was shot dead when he was forced by the IDF to knock on the door of his neighbor, Hamas militant Nasser Jarrar, in the West Bank village of Tubas and inform him of the Israeli army's demands that he surrender.
In 2004, a 13-year-old boy, Muhammed Badwan, was photographed tied to an Israeli police vehicle in the West Bank village of Biddu being used as a shield to deter stone-throwing protesters. Rabbi Arik Ascherman was placed under arrest after he tried to intervene.
In 2005, Israel's High Court of Justice banned the practice, with the Israeli Defense Ministry appealing the decision. While acknowledging and defending the "use of Palestinians to deliver warnings to wanted men about impending arrest operations", a practice known in Israel by the "neighbor procedure" euphemism, the IDF denied reports of "using Palestinians as human shields against attacks on IDF forces", saying it had already forbidden this practice.
In 2006, however, initial investigations by B'Tselem indicated that the IDF used civilians as human shields in Beit Hanun. Defence for Children International has also found that, of the 26 cases of Palestinian children being used by Israeli forces as human shields that it has documented since 2004, the large majority happened after the Supreme Court ban.
In February 2007, the footage was released of an incident involving Sameh Amira, a 24-year-old Palestinian, whom video showed serving as a human shield for a group of Israeli soldiers, getting inside apartments suspected to belong to Palestinian militants ahead of the soldiers. A 15-year-old cousin of Amira and an 11-year-old girl in the West Bank independently told B'Tselem in February 2007 that Israeli soldiers forced each of them in separate incidents to open the door of a neighboring apartment belonging to a suspected militant, get inside ahead of them, and open doors and windows.
The IDF launched a criminal investigation into the incident involving Amira. In April 2007, it suspended a commander after the unit he was leading was accused of using Palestinians as human shields in a West Bank operation. In April 2007, CBS News reported that, according to human rights groups, the IDF did not stop the use of human shields, but the incidence was dropping.
"Neighbor procedure"
The IDF's practice of "Neighbor procedure", used during the Second Intifada, utilized Palestinians as human shields. Under this procedure, people picked at random were forced by IDF to approach the houses of suspected militants and persuade them to surrender, a practice which arguably placed the former's lives in danger. Israeli NGO Adalah legally challenged the practice before Israel's High Court of Justice in 2002. However, the IDF persisted in using Palestinians in its 'neighbor procedure', whereby people picked at random were made to approach the houses of suspects and persuade them to surrender, a practice which arguably placed the former's lives in danger. The court ruled in October 2005 "that any use of Palestinian civilians during military actions is forbidden, including the 'prior warning procedure". According to B'tselem, reports indicate that the practice has continued nonetheless, in military operations like Operation Cast Lead and Operation Protective Edge, and the "vast majority of these reports were never investigated, and those that did result in no further action".
2008–2009 Gaza War During the 2008–09 Gaza War known as Operation Cast Lead, Israeli military forces were accused of continuing to use civilians as human shields by Amnesty International and Breaking the Silence. According to testimonies published by these two groups, Israeli forces used unarmed Palestinians including children to protect military positions, walk in front of armed soldiers; go into buildings to check for booby traps or gunmen; and inspect suspicious objects for explosives.Amnesty International Report "Operation Cast Lead": 22 Days of Death and Destruction pp. 48–50, Amnesty International stated that it found cases in which "Israeli troops forced Palestinians to stay in one room of their home while turning the rest of the house into a base and sniper position, effectively using the families, both adults and children, as human shields and putting them at risk"."Impunity for War Crimes in Gaza-Southern Israel a Recipe for Further Civilian Suffering". . Amnesty International. The UN Human Rights Council also accused Israel of using human shields during the 2008–09 Gaza conflict.Associated Press report, "UN Human Rights Council endorses Gaza war crimes report, demands Israel, Hamas investigate", New York Daily News, 16 October 2009.
The Guardian compiled three videos and testimony from civilians about alleged war crimes committed by Israeli soldiers during the 2008–09 Gaza War, including the use of Palestinian children as human shields. In the videos, three teenage brothers from the al-Attar family said that they were forced at gunpoint to kneel in front of tanks to deter Hamas fighters from firing at them and that they were used to "clear" houses for the Israeli soldiers.
An IDF soldier's testimony for Breaking the Silence told that his commander ordered that for every house raided by the IDF, they sent a "neighbor" to go in before the soldier, sometimes while the soldier placed his gun on the neighbor's shoulder; according to the soldier, "commanders said these were the instructions and we had to do it". Gazan civilians also testified of being used at gunpoint as human shields by Israeli soldiers. An Israeli military official responded to these allegations: "The IDF operated in accordance with the rules of war and did the utmost to minimize harm to civilians uninvolved in combat. The IDF's use of weapons conforms to international law." An Israeli embassy spokesperson alleged Hamas pressured the people of Gaza into making those accusations.
On 12 March 2010, the Israel Defense Forces prosecution filed indictments against two staff sergeants of the Givati Brigade for forcing a 9-year-old Palestinian boy to open a number of bags they thought might contain explosives in January 2009. The boy told he was hit by the soldiers and forced to work for them at gunpoint. The IDF said it opened the investigation after the incident was brought to its attention by the United Nations. On 3 October 2010, a conviction in this matter, accompanied by a demotion and suspended sentence, was handed down by the military court against both defendants, though neither soldier was jailed.
The sentence was criticized as too lenient by Human Rights Watch and the boy's mother.
2009 to the 2014 Gaza War In June 2013, the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child accused Israeli forces of "continuous use of Palestinian children as human shields and informants", voicing with deep concern 14 such cases had been reported between January 2010 and March 2013. It says almost all accused soldiers involved in the incidents have gone unpunished.