In Gaza, almost every IDF platoon keeps a human shield, a sub-army of Palestinian slaves | Opinion
www.haaretz.com
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In Gaza, human shields are used by Israeli soldiers at least six times a day.

I served in Gaza for nine months, and first came across these procedures, called “mosquito protocol” in December 2023. It was only two months into the ground offensive, long before there was a shortage of dogs from the IDF’s canine unit, Oketz, who were used for this purpose. This became the insane, unofficial excuse for this insane, unofficial procedure. I didn’t realize then how ubiquitous using human shields, whom we referred to as a “shawish,” would become.

Today, almost every platoon keeps a “shawish,” and no infantry force enters a house before a “shawish” clears it. This means there are four “shawishes” in a company, twelve in a battalion, and at least 36 in a brigade. We operate a sub-army of slaves.

I recently saw that the IDF’s Military Police Criminal Investigation Division opened six investigations into the use of Palestinian civilians as human shields, and my jaw dropped. I’ve seen cover-ups before, but this is a new low.

If the MPCID wanted to do its job seriously, it would have to open far more than even a thousand investigations. But all the MPCID wants is for us to be able to tell ourselves and the world that we’re investigating ourselves, so they’ve found six scapegoats and are pinning it all on them.

    • MarxMadness@lemmygrad.mlEnglish
      0·
      1 day ago

      https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/14/world/middleeast/israel-gaza-military-human-shields.html

      After Israeli soldiers found Mohammed Shubeir hiding with his family in early March, they detained him for roughly 10 days before releasing him without charge, he said.

      During that time, Mr. Shubeir said, the soldiers used him as a human shield.

      Mr. Shubeir, then 17, said he was forced to walk handcuffed through the empty ruins of his hometown, Khan Younis, in southern Gaza, searching for explosives set by Hamas. To avoid being blown up themselves, the soldiers made him go ahead, Mr. Shubeir said.

      https://www.cnn.com/2025/03/12/middleeast/israel-gaza-human-shields-investigation-intl/index.html

      In an interview with CNN late last year, an Israeli soldier said his unit had forced a Palestinian man to enter a building ahead of troops…

      The exact scale and scope of the practice by the Israeli military is not known. But the testimony of both the soldier and five civilians last year indicated that it was widespread across the territory: in northern Gaza, Gaza City, Khan Younis and Rafah.

      One of the civilians, Mohammad Saad, age 20, told CNN that IDF soldiers had detained him in Rafah.

      “They would ask us to do things like, ‘move this carpet,’ saying they were looking for tunnels,” he said. “‘Film under the stairs,’ they would say. If they found something, they would tell us to bring it outside. For example, they would ask us to remove belongings from the house, clean here, move the sofa, open the fridge, and open the cupboard.”

      https://www.cbsnews.com/amp/news/israeli-soldier-palestinians-human-shields-gaza/

      Tommy [an anonymized name] said his commander ordered his unit to use Gazan civilians to search buildings for explosives instead of dogs…

      Breaking the Silence has acted as a watchdog body over the Israeli military for more than 20 years. It said it had corroborated Tommy’s account with other soldiers.

      Multiple eyewitness accounts from both sides, and stories from anonymous sources match up with each other, as well as with stories of named sources.

    • PyroNeurosis@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
      0·
      1 day ago

      I mean, the author probably has realistic concerns about their own safety concerning the Israeli public’s opinion on the war and their government’s attitude towards journalists.

      • UltraBlack@lemmy.world
        0·
        1 day ago

        If you don’t want to be a journalist, don’t be a journalist. As far as we know a random idiot feom 4chan could’ve written that article