On Nov. 2, the Washington Post published a lengthy report on the Israel Defense Forces use of Palestinians in Gaza as human shields. The Post interviewed four Palestinians on the record, combining their accounts with the testimony of an anonymous Israeli soldier and with interviews collected by Breaking the Silence, an Israeli organization that collects and verifies testimonies from troops who have served in the occupied Palestinian territories, to produce their report. They described a practice in which Palestinians are detained, interrogated and ultimately released, indicating that the Israeli army did not believe them to be militants. They described events that took place between January and August of 2024.
“This wasn’t something that happened just here and there but rather on a large scale throughout a number of different units, at different times, throughout the war and in different places,” said Joel Carmel, advocacy director of Breaking the Silence.
The accounts of the four Palestinians are harrowing as they described being used to enter buildings the IDF troops believed were booby-trapped. The Israeli soldier, who is in his 20s and served in northern Gaza, recalled the moment his commander brought two Palestinians to him, cuffed and blindfolded, to be used as shields. One was a teenager, he said, while the other appeared to be in his 20s. “I asked why we need them,” the soldier said. He remembers his commander replying that it would be better if the Palestinians were killed by any potential booby traps and that the lives of Israeli soldiers were more important.
