On June 22, a viral video showed a Palestinian man strapped to an Israeli military vehicle, passing by ambulances. Francesca Albanese, the UN’s Special Rapporteur on occupied Palestinian territories (oPt), called it “human shielding in action.” The man, Mujahed Azmi from Jenin, had reportedly been shot and beaten before being tied to the jeep during a raid on Jenin’s Jabriyat neighborhood. The U.S. State Department labeled the action “absolutely unacceptable.”

One of the primary justifications used by the Israeli military for civilian casualties in Gaza is the alleged use of human shields by Hamas. Historically, Israel incorporated this practice into its military doctrine before it was officially ruled illegal, though it reportedly continues.

Despite the condemnation, the U.S. only urged Israel to investigate internally and took no further action. The Israeli military acknowledged that the actions in the video “violated military protocol” and promised to hold those responsible accountable.

However, Israel has repeatedly made such claims regarding accountability but has not held a single soldier accountable for using Palestinians as human shields since 2010, related to a crime committed during the 2008-2009 Gaza war. Israel’s leading human rights group, B’Tselem, reported that:

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.”

Of all the crimes committed during the 2008-2009 Gaza war, which resulted in the deaths of approximately 1,400 Palestinians, the harshest punishment given to an Israeli soldier was a 7.5-month jail sentence for stealing a credit card. During this war, Israel’s primary justification for the high civilian death toll in Gaza was that Hamas was using human shields. However, Israeli forces were subsequently accused of using Palestinians as human shields, and Amnesty International’s investigative work exonerated Hamas of similar accusations.

Using human shields is illegal under international law and is considered a war crime under the Rome Statute governing the International Criminal Court (ICC). While Hamas has never been found to use civilians as human shields, despite a constant barrage of accusations by both the U.S. and Israeli governments, there are numerous documented cases of the Israeli military doing so.

Up until 2005, it was standard Israeli military practice to use Palestinian civilians as human shields under what was called the “neighbor procedure.” The practice was banned by Israel’s supreme court, but top military officials appealed the ban. The case against using human shields was first launched in May 2002, arguing that it violated the Geneva Conventions. This was followed by international uproar over the death of a 19-year-old Palestinian, Nidal Abu Mukhsan, who was killed while being used as a human shield by Israeli forces.

Despite the ban, Israeli forces have repeatedly been found using Palestinians as human shields throughout the years, with cases spiking since October 2023. For instance, in March, the independent rights group Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor reported evidence indicating that Israeli soldiers had been using Palestinians as human shields at the al-Shifa Hospital medical complex.

In 2022, Ahed Mohammad Rida Mereb, a 16-year-old Palestinian girl, was used as a human shield by Israeli forces during a raid on Jenin, leaving her traumatized. She described being called a “terrorist” by soldiers who held her at gunpoint, stating, “I was trembling and crying and shouting to the soldiers to remove me because the bullets were passing over my head.” Only a week later, another report emerged from Jenin of a man being used as a human shield. There was no accountability for the soldiers involved in either case, and the Israeli military did not proceed with an investigation.

Feature photo | Image: Twitter | Editing: MintPress News

Robert Inlakesh is a political analyst, journalist and documentary filmmaker based in London, UK. He has reported from and lived in the occupied Palestinian territories and hosts the show ‘Palestine Files’. Director of ‘Steal of the Century: Trump’s Palestine-Israel Catastrophe.’ Follow him on Twitter @falasteen47

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