Israeli soldiers and Palestinian former detainees say troops have regularly forced captured Gazans to carry out life-threatening tasks, including inside Hamas tunnels.
An investigation by The New York Times found that Israeli soldiers and intelligence agents, throughout the war in Gaza, have regularly forced captured Palestinians . . . to conduct life-threatening reconnaissance missions to avoid putting Israeli soldiers at risk on the battlefield.
While the extent and scale of such operations are unknown, the practice, illegal under both Israeli and international law, has been used by at least 11 squads in five cities in Gaza, often with the involvement of officers from Israeli intelligence agencies.
Palestinian detainees have been coerced to explore places in Gaza where the Israeli military believes that Hamas militants have prepared an ambush or a booby trap. The practice has gradually become more widespread since the start of the war last October.
Detainees have been forced to scout and film inside tunnel networks where soldiers believed fighters were still hiding. They have entered buildings rigged with mines to find hidden explosives. They have been told to pick up or move objects like generators and water tanks that Israeli soldiers feared concealed tunnel entrances or booby traps.
I wish I could say I was surprised. All I can say is that I hope this opens a few more peoples’ eyes.
Look how short a time it took to dash your hopes right here on Lemmy.
Sigh.
Nah, my hopes are fine. It’s not the dedicated pro-genocide types that need to be reached. It’s the centrists who couldn’t find Israel on a map who are the ones who need their eyes opened.
Good point.
the practice, illegal under both Israeli and international law
I am surprised. It’s one thing to flout international law (that perhaps they don’t agree with from the very beginning) but to ignore their own laws?
This is outrageous.
Unfortunately, they’ve been doing this sort of thing for years. Sometimes the left-wing papers in Israel kick up enough dust that the IDF promises to review it and then does nothing, but more often it just happens.
The surprising part is an imperial mouthpiece writing about it.
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You really don’t seem to understand how bad this makes you look. Using human shields is fine now apparently? Did you ever have principles or do you find that they get in the way of your blind hatred?
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If a terrorist organisation lays booby traps, then it is fine to force civilians or prisoners to walk into them, is that what you want to say?
Infested
Using words that frame everyone you disagree with as insects is sure to make you sound rational and not at all pro-genocide…
Zionism is a form of fascism. This type of casual, widespread, dehumanizing language underscores that point.
Booby trapping civilian areas* is really bad because it puts innocent civilians at risk. Now, you’ve already written two comments on this but not one condemning the use of civilians as literal human shields. So you’re welcome to do so any time now…
*Tunnels are fair game imo, not intended for civilians, but anyway
This is a long standing practice by the IDF that goes back to at least 1967.
Since the beginning of the occupation in 1967, Israeli security forces have repeatedly used Palestinians in the West Bank and in the Gaza Strip as human shields, ordering them to perform military tasks that risked their lives. As part of this policy, soldiers have ordered Palestinian civilians to remove suspicious objects from roads, to tell people to come out of their homes so the military can arrest them, to stand in front of soldiers while the latter shoot from behind them, and more. The Palestinian civilians were chosen at random for these tasks, and could not refuse the demand placed on them by armed soldiers.
“[Israel’s] soldiers have used Palestinian children to enter potentially dangerous buildings ahead of them and to stand in front of military vehicles in order to stop the throwing of stones against those vehicles,” the committee writes in the report, citing the U.N.'s Special Rapporteur on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights and Fundemental Freedoms while Countering Terrorism
Military officials as high as the chief of staff are aware of this practice, suggesting that it is not only okay with the military leadership, but condoned. Soldiers are told, the report found, “our lives are more important than their lives.”
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Israel “Systematically” Uses Gaza Children as Human Shields, Rights Group Finds 2024
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Breaking The Silence - Testimonies from IDF Veterans
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Media Bias/Fact Check - News Source Context (Click to view Full Report)
Information for Media Bias/Fact Check:
MBFC: Least Biased - Credibility: High - Factual Reporting: Very High - United States of America
Wikipedia about this sourceNew York Times - News Source Context (Click to view Full Report)
Information for New York Times:
MBFC: Left-Center - Credibility: High - Factual Reporting: High - United States of America
Wikipedia about this source
