The Israeli military used captured Palestinians in the Gaza Strip as human shields, The New York Times reported.
An investigation by The New York Times found that Israeli soldiers and intelligence agents throughout the Gaza conflict ‘routinely forced captured Palestinians to perform life-threatening reconnaissance missions to avoid putting Israeli soldiers at risk on the battlefield.’
According to the newspaper, captured Palestinians were forced to survey tunnels and buildings where mines or ambushes could be planted. The practice, ‘illegal under both international and Israeli law, was used by at least 11 groups of soldiers’ in several parts of Gaza, ‘often with the participation of Israeli intelligence officers,’ the publication noted.
One of the captives, Mohammed Shubeira, told The New York Times that he was handcuffed and sent to survey the ruins of his hometown. At a distance from him was a team of Israeli soldiers making sure he did not escape.
‘The soldiers chased me into a booby-trapped flat like a dog. I found a whole garland of charges connected by wires. I thought it was the last second of my life,’ the Palestinian recounted.
Shubeira was also dressed in an Israeli uniform and ordered to walk the streets, drawing fire from Hamas fighters. He was monitored from a drone, and on the detected positions were immediately struck.
We shall remind you that earlier the human rights organisation Human Rights Watch (HRW) reported that the Israeli army used white phosphorus munitions banned by international conventions in strikes on sites in Lebanon and the Gaza Strip.
