Israeli soldiers and Palestinian civilians have come forward with detailed accounts describing how the Israeli military has systematically used Palestinians as human shields throughout the 19-month assault on Gaza, a practice explicitly banned under international humanitarian law. The testimonies, gathered by the Associated Press, reveal a pattern that extends from top-down military orders to daily operations across nearly every infantry unit, contradicting longstanding Israeli government claims and raising serious legal and moral questions.
Ayman Abu Hamadan, a 36-year-old Palestinian man, described being detained and forced by Israeli soldiers into high-risk operations under threat of execution. “They beat me and told me: ‘You have no other option; do this or we’ll kill you,’” he told the Associated Press. Soldiers dressed him in army fatigues, strapped a camera to his forehead, and made him enter buildings first to check for explosives and militants. “Soldiers stood behind him and, once it was clear, entered the buildings to damage or destroy them,” AP reported. For over two weeks, Abu Hamadan was handed off between Israeli units. He spent each night bound in a dark room before repeating the task each day.
An Israeli officer speaking anonymously told AP that such actions were far from isolated. “Orders often came from the top, and at times nearly every platoon used a Palestinian to clear locations,” the officer said. These orders were reportedly normalized through euphemisms like the “mosquito protocol,” referring to the Palestinians used in this role as “mosquitoes” or “wasps.” The practice became so widespread that another officer, writing in Haaretz, stated: “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.”
Breaking the Silence, a whistleblower group formed by former Israeli soldiers, confirmed these practices through multiple testimonies. Executive Director Nadav Weiman stated: “These are not isolated accounts; they point to a systemic failure and a horrifying moral collapse.” According to AP, the group also provided a photo showing two detainees being used as human shields inside a house in Gaza in 2024.
The use of civilians as human shields is strictly prohibited by the Fourth Geneva Convention and was outlawed by Israel’s own Supreme Court in 2005. Despite this, the Israeli human rights group B’Tselem reported that “over the years, the military practiced an official policy of using Palestinians as human shields, ordering them to carry out military activities that put their lives in jeopardy… In most cases, no one was held accountable.”
The Associated Press interviewed two Israeli soldiers and reviewed testimony from a third who all admitted to participating in or witnessing the use of human shields. They said commanders were aware and often directed such actions. One 26-year-old soldier described how the practice “caught on like fire in a field” after being introduced. According to his account, by the end of his nine-month deployment in Gaza, “every infantry unit used a Palestinian to clear houses before entering.”
He also described a planning meeting in 2024 where a brigade commander presented a slide reading “get a mosquito,” suggesting that soldiers might “just catch one off the streets.” He said he submitted two incident reports to his brigade commander, including one detailing a case in which a Palestinian being used as a human shield was mistakenly shot by another Israeli unit. “The officer recommended the Palestinians be dressed in army clothes to avoid misidentification.” When asked about these reports, the military responded that it had “no comment.”
Despite the extensive documentation, the Israeli military continues to deny the practice as policy. In response to AP’s investigation, the IDF told The Jerusalem Post that it would only pursue an investigation “if further details are provided.” In a public statement, the military said it “strictly prohibits using civilians as shields” and “all such orders are routinely emphasized to the forces.” It added that it is investigating some allegations but refused to disclose how many or offer specifics.
Palestinian civilians told AP that they were forced into roles where they were put in grave danger. Masoud Abu Saeed, also 36, said he was used as a shield for two weeks in Khan Younis in March 2024. “This is extremely dangerous,” he recalled telling a soldier. “I have children and want to reunite with them.” He said he was forced into homes, buildings, and even a hospital, equipped with a phone, hammer, and chain cutters to locate tunnels. During one operation, he unexpectedly saw his brother—being used as a human shield by another unit. “I thought Israel’s army had executed him,” he said.
In the West Bank, Hazar Estity said Israeli soldiers removed her from her home in the Jenin refugee camp in November 2024 and forced her to film and clear multiple apartments. She pleaded with them to let her return to her 21-month-old son. “I was most afraid that they would kill me,” she said. “And that I wouldn’t see my son again.”
One Israeli sergeant told AP his unit attempted to refuse the practice in mid-2024 but were overridden by higher command. The officer reportedly said they shouldn’t worry about international law. The unit ultimately used a 16-year-old boy and a 30-year-old man for several days. “The boy shook constantly,” the sergeant said, noting that both captives repeatedly muttered “Rafah, Rafah,” appearing to plead to be sent back home.
Michael Schmitt, a professor of international law at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, said such practices represent a severe challenge to the laws of war. “It’s really a heavy lift to look at your own soldiers and say you have to comply,” Schmitt noted, especially when soldiers are told their enemies—like Hamas—are using similar tactics.
These revelations emerge amid a deepening humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza, where Israel’s siege has caused mass starvation and collapsed the healthcare system. On May 25, Reuters reported that Israeli military strikes killed at least 23 Palestinians, including a local journalist and a senior rescue service official. Earlier that day, nine children of a Nasser Hospital pediatrician were killed in a strike on their home in Khan Younis. United Nations Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese called it a “distinguishable sadistic pattern of the new phase of the genocide.”
Despite the gravity of these accounts, Israeli officials have offered little transparency or accountability. Rights groups and former soldiers continue to press for independent investigations and consequences for the systemic use of human shields. As Weiman of Breaking the Silence stated: “Israel rightly condemns Hamas for using civilians as human shields, but our own soldiers describe doing the very same.”
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