Israeli soldiers and former detainees detail widespread use of human shields in Gaza

Israeli soldiers and former detainees detail widespread use of human shields in Gaza
An injured Palestinian man speaks on his phone following an Israeli drone strike in Jabalia, Gaza. (AFP)
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Updated 25 May 2025
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Israeli soldiers and former detainees detail widespread use of human shields in Gaza

Israeli soldiers and former detainees detail widespread use of human shields in Gaza
  • Palestinians and soldiers claim the Israeli military is forcing civilians to act as human shields in Gaza
  • Despite Israel's refutes, human rights groups say Israeli military used human shields in Gaza and the West Bank for decades

TEL AVIV: The only times the Palestinian man wasn’t bound or blindfolded, he said, was when he was used by Israeli soldiers as their human shield.

Dressed in army fatigues with a camera fixed to his forehead, Ayman Abu Hamadan was forced into houses in the Gaza Strip to make sure they were clear of bombs and gunmen, he said. When one unit finished with him, he was passed to the next.

“They beat me and told me: ‘You have no other option; do this or we’ll kill you,’” the 36-year-old told The Associated Press, describing the 2-1/2 weeks he was held last summer by the Israeli military in northern Gaza.

Orders often came from the top, and at times nearly every platoon used a Palestinian to clear locations, said an Israeli officer, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal.

Several Palestinians and soldiers told the AP that Israeli troops are systematically forcing Palestinians to act as human shields in Gaza, sending them into buildings and tunnels to check for explosives or militants. The dangerous practice has become ubiquitous during 19 months of war, they said.

In response to these allegations, Israel’s military says it strictly prohibits using civilians as shields — a practice it has long accused Hamas of using in Gaza. Israeli officials blame the militants for the civilian death toll in its offensive that has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians.

In a statement to the AP, the military said it also bans otherwise coercing civilians to participate in operations, and “all such orders are routinely emphasized to the forces.”

The military said it’s investigating several cases alleging that Palestinians were involved in missions, but wouldn’t provide details. It didn’t answer questions about the reach of the practice or any orders from commanding officers.

The AP spoke with seven Palestinians who described being used as shields in Gaza and the occupied West Bank and with two members of Israel’s military who said they engaged in the practice, which is prohibited by international law. Rights groups are ringing the alarm, saying it’s become standard procedure increasingly used in the war.

“These are not isolated accounts; they point to a systemic failure and a horrifying moral collapse,” said Nadav Weiman, executive director of Breaking the Silence — a whistleblower group of former Israeli soldiers that has collected testimonies about the practice from within the military. “Israel rightly condemns Hamas for using civilians as human shields, but our own soldiers describe doing the very same.”

Abu Hamadan said he was detained in August after being separated from his family, and soldiers told him he’d help with a “special mission.” He was forced, for 17 days, to search houses and inspect every hole in the ground for tunnels, he said.

Soldiers stood behind him and, once it was clear, entered the buildings to damage or destroy them, he said. He spent each night bound in a dark room, only to wake up and do it again.

The use of human shields ‘caught on like fire’

Rights groups say Israel has used Palestinians as shields in Gaza and the West Bank for decades. The Supreme Court outlawed the practice in 2005. But the groups continued to document violations.

Still, experts say this war is the first time in decades the practice — and the debate around it — has been so widespread.

The two Israeli soldiers who spoke to the AP — and a third who provided testimony to Breaking the Silence — said commanders were aware of the use of human shields and tolerated it, with some giving orders to do so. Some said it was referred to as the “mosquito protocol” and that Palestinians were also referred to as “wasps” and other dehumanizing terms.

The soldiers — who said they’re no longer serving in Gaza — said the practice sped up operations, saved ammunition, and spared combat dogs from injury or death.

The soldiers said they first became aware human shields were being used shortly after the war erupted on Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas attacked Israel, and that it became widespread by the middle of 2024. Orders to “bring a mosquito” often came via radio, they said — shorthand everyone understood. Soldiers acted on commanding officers’ orders, according to the officer who spoke to the AP.

He said that by the end of his nine months in Gaza, every infantry unit used a Palestinian to clear houses before entering.

“Once this idea was initiated, it caught on like fire in a field,” the 26-year-old said. “People saw how effective and easy it was.”

He described a 2024 planning meeting where a brigade commander presented to the division commander a slide reading “get a mosquito” and a suggestion they might “just catch one off the streets.”

The officer wrote two incident reports to the brigade commander detailing the use of human shields, reports that would have been escalated to the division chief, he said. The military said it had no comment when asked whether it received them.

One report documented the accidental killing of a Palestinian, he said — troops didn’t realize another unit was using him as a shield and shot him as he ran into a house. The officer recommended the Palestinians be dressed in army clothes to avoid misidentification.

He said he knew of at least one other Palestinian who died while used as a shield — he passed out in a tunnel.

Troops unsuccessfully pushed back, a sergeant says

Convincing soldiers to operate lawfully when they see their enemy using questionable practices is difficult, said Michael Schmitt, a distinguished professor of international law at the US Military Academy at West Point. Israeli officials and other observers say Hamas uses civilians as shields as it embeds itself in communities, hiding fighters in hospitals and schools.

“It’s really a heavy lift to look at your own soldiers and say you have to comply,” Schmitt said.

One soldier told the AP his unit tried to refuse to use human shields in mid-2024 but were told they had no choice, with a high-ranking officer saying they shouldn’t worry about international humanitarian law.

The sergeant — speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal — said the troops used a 16-year-old and a 30-year-old for a few days.

The boy shook constantly, he said, and both repeated “Rafah, Rafah” — Gaza’s southernmost city, where more than 1 million Palestinians had fled from fighting elsewhere at that point in the war.

It seemed they were begging to be freed, the sergeant said.

‘I have children,’ one man says he pleaded

Masoud Abu Saeed said he was used as a shield for two weeks in March 2024 in the southern city of Khan Younis.

“This is extremely dangerous,” he recounted telling a soldier. “I have children and want to reunite with them.”

The 36-year-old said he was forced into houses, buildings and a hospital to dig up suspected tunnels and clear areas. He said he wore a first-responder vest for easy identification, carrying a phone, hammer and chain cutters.

During one operation, he bumped into his brother, used as a shield by another unit, he said.

They hugged. “I thought Israel’s army had executed him,” he said.

Palestinians also report being used as shields in the West Bank.

Hazar Estity said soldiers took her Jenin refugee camp home in November, forcing her to film inside several apartments and clear them before troops entered.

She said she pleaded to return to her 21-month-old son, but soldiers didn’t listen.

“I was most afraid that they would kill me,” she said. “And that I wouldn’t see my son again.”


China, Japan close to resuming seafood imports after Fukushima ban

China, Japan close to resuming seafood imports after Fukushima ban
Updated 19 sec ago
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China, Japan close to resuming seafood imports after Fukushima ban

China, Japan close to resuming seafood imports after Fukushima ban
  • In 2023, Japan began gradually releasing treated wastewater from the stricken Fukushima nuclear plant into the Pacific Ocean
  • The move was backed by the International Atomic Energy Agency, but drew sharp criticism from Beijing
BEIJIG: China and Japan said Friday they were moving closer to ending a years-long dispute over Tokyo’s handling of nuclear wastewater that prompted Beijing to ban imports of Japanese seafood.
In 2023, Japan began gradually releasing treated wastewater from the stricken Fukushima nuclear plant into the Pacific Ocean.
The move was backed by the International Atomic Energy Agency, but drew sharp criticism from Beijing, which banned Japanese seafood imports as a result.
China indicated on Friday that it was edging closer to lifting the ban, saying talks with Japanese officials in Beijing this week had “achieved substantial progress.”
“So far this year, the two sides have carried out several rounds of technical exchanges,” Beijing’s customs administration said in a statement, without giving further details.
Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi said Beijing and Tokyo had “reached an agreement on the technical requirements necessary to resume exports of fishery products to China.”
“Exports to China will resume as soon as the re-registration process for export-related facilities is completed,” Hayashi said on Friday.
“We regard this as a major milestone,” he told a press conference.
China previously said it had found no abnormalities in seawater and marine life samples it independently collected near the Fukushima plant in February, but indicated more tests were needed before revoking the ban.
In 2011, a huge earthquake triggered a deadly tsunami that swamped the Fukushima nuclear facility and pushed three of its six reactors into meltdown.
China, whose ties with Japan have long been strained by Tokyo’s imperial legacy, vociferously opposed the release of the treated wastewater, casting it as environmentally irresponsible.

Witnesses in Gaza describe more chaos at food distribution sites

Witnesses in Gaza describe more chaos at food distribution sites
Updated 1 min 41 sec ago
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Witnesses in Gaza describe more chaos at food distribution sites

Witnesses in Gaza describe more chaos at food distribution sites
  • Multiple witnesses on Thursday reported a free-for-all of people grabbing aid, and they said Israeli troops opened fire to control crowds.
  • Witnesses said it was Israeli troops who fired the projectiles to clear large crowds of Palestinians after the center ran out of supplies

NUSEIRAT: Chaos erupted again Thursday as tens of thousands of desperate Palestinians in the Gaza Strip tried to collect food from distribution sites run by a new US- and Israeli-backed foundation. Multiple witnesses reported a free-for-all of people grabbing aid, and they said Israeli troops opened fire to control crowds.
In central Gaza, Associated Press video showed smoke bombs arching through the air around a distribution center, and gunfire was audible as an Israeli tank moved nearby. Witnesses said it was Israeli troops who fired the projectiles to clear large crowds of Palestinians after the center ran out of supplies Thursday.
“I came to get a sack of flour … a sardine tin or anything,” said Mahmoud Ismael, a man on crutches from an earlier leg injury who said he walked for miles to get to the center, only to leave empty-handed.
“There is no food in my house, and I can’t get food for my children,” he said.
Turmoil has plagued the aid system launched this week by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which runs three distribution centers in the territory. Israel has slated GHF to take over food distribution in Gaza despite opposition from the United Nations and most humanitarian groups.
Over the past three days, there have been reports of gunfire at GHF centers, and Gaza health officials have said at least one person has been killed and dozens wounded.
The Israeli military said it has facilitated the entry of nearly 1,000 truckloads of supplies into Gaza recently and accused the UN of failing to distribute the goods. It claimed Hamas was responsible for the crisis by stealing aid and refusing to release the remaining hostages.
The military’s spokesman, Brig. Gen. Effei Defrin, said the army will continue “to provide for the humanitarian needs of the civilian population while taking necessary steps to ensure that the aid does not reach the hands of Hamas.”
With media not allowed to access the centers, the circumstances remain unclear. The distribution points are guarded by armed private contractors, and Israeli forces are positioned in the vicinity. On Tuesday, the Israeli military said it fired warning shots to control a crowd outside one center.
Dr. Khaled Elserr, a surgeon at Nasser Hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis, told the AP he treated two people wounded at distribution centers on Thursday — a 17-year-old girl and a man in his 20s. Both had gunshot wounds in the chest and stomach, he said, adding that other casualties had come in from the centers but that he did not have an exact number.
In a statement Thursday, GHF said no shots had been fired at any of its distribution centers the past three days and there have been no casualties, saying reports of deaths “originated from Hamas.”
Separately on Thursday, Israeli strikes in Gaza killed at least 34 people, according to local health officials. Israel said it would establish 22 more Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank. Most of the international community views settlements as illegal and an obstacle to resolving the decades-old conflict.
Turmoil at aid distribution sites
Hunger and malnutrition have mounted among Gaza’s 2.3 million Palestinians since Israel barred entry of food, fuel, medicine and other supplies nearly three months ago, allowing a trickle of aid in only the past two weeks.
GHF has opened hubs in three locations – two in the far south around the city of Rafah, and the other in central Gaza near the Netzarim corridor, a strip of territory controlled by Israeli forces. The large crowds have to walk miles to reach the locations.
More than a dozen Palestinians described chaos at all three Thursday.
At one of the Rafah sites near the Morag Corridor, another Israeli-held strip, one man told the AP he and his cousin arrived at 5:30 a.m., and found thousands of people massed outside, waiting to be let in. When it was opened, the crowd flowed into an outdoor area ringed by barbed wire and earth berms, where pallets of food boxes had been left.
Armed contractors stood on the berms watching, and beyond them Israeli troops and tanks were visible, said the 41-year-old man, who spoke on condition he be identified only by his first name, Shehada, for fear of reprisals. The crowd descended on the food boxes, and pushing and shoving got out of control, he said.
Shehada said the contractors pulled back and Israeli troops shot at people’s feet. His cousin was wounded in the left foot, he said. “The gunfire was very intense,” he said. “The sand was jumping all around us.”
At the other Rafah site, several people told AP of a similar scene of pallets of food boxes left on the ground for the crowds to take whatever they could with no control by staff. Mohammad Abu-Elinin, said “gangs” carried off cartloads of flour bags and multiple aid boxes.
Samira Z’urob said by the time she arrived at 6.a.m, “the thieves had stolen people’s aid.” When she begged, one person gave her a bag of pasta and a can of beans. “I said, Thank God, and took it to my children,” she said. “I haven’t had flour for more than a week.”
Another woman, Heba Joda, said people tore down metal fences and took wooden pallets. When the food boxes ran out, staff told people to leave, then fired sound grenades to disperse them, she said.
As people fled through a nearby roundabout outside the center, Israeli troops fired gunshots, causing a panic, she said. Abu-Elinin said he saw one man wounded by shrapnel.
At the center in central Gaza, witnesses told the AP that Israeli troops fired tear gas and smoke grenades to disperse the crowds when aid ran out. AP video showed crowds of people returning from the site, some with carts full of boxes and many with nothing.
Aisha Na’na said all she managed to grab were some sticks to use as firewood. “We had come to get food for our children, but it was all in vain — we returned with nothing,” she said.
Israel says the GHF system will replace the massive aid operation that the UN and other aid groups have carried out throughout the war. It says the new mechanism is necessary, accusing Hamas of siphoning off large amounts of aid. The UN denies that significant diversion takes place.
In its statement Thursday, GHF said it has distributed more than 32,200 boxes of food since Monday. It says each box, which contains basics like sugar, lentils, pasta and rice, can make 58 meals. It said it will scale up to start operations at a fourth center and will build additional hubs in the weeks ahead.
The UN and other aid groups have refused to participate in the mechanism, saying it violates humanitarian principles. They say it allows Israel to use food as a weapon, forcing people to move to the hubs, potentially emptying large swaths of Gaza. They also say it cannot meet the massive needs of the population.
Israel has allowed in some trucks of aid for the UN to distribute, but the UN has struggled to deliver the material amid looting and Israeli military restrictions.
UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters Thursday that Israeli authorities hadn’t given permission for UN trucks to move to the border to retrieve the arriving supplies for the previous three days.


Macron says stance on Israel must ‘harden’ unless Gaza situation improves

Macron says stance on Israel must ‘harden’ unless Gaza situation improves
Updated 24 min 55 sec ago
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Macron says stance on Israel must ‘harden’ unless Gaza situation improves

Macron says stance on Israel must ‘harden’ unless Gaza situation improves
  • French leader says in Singapore that action needed “in the next few hours and days”
  • He also asserted recognition of a Palestinian state with conditions was “not only a moral duty, but a political necessity”

SINGAPORE: French President Emmanuel Macron said Friday that European countries should “harden the collective position” against Israel if it does not respond appropriately to the humanitarian situation in Gaza.
With international pressure mounting on Israel over the deepening hunger crisis in Gaza, Macron said action was needed “in the next few hours and days.” He also asserted recognition of a Palestinian state with conditions was “not only a moral duty, but a political necessity.”


Paramilitaries claim capture of key Sudan towns

Paramilitaries claim capture of key Sudan towns
Updated 43 min 5 sec ago
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Paramilitaries claim capture of key Sudan towns

Paramilitaries claim capture of key Sudan towns
  • For more than two years Africa’s third-largest country has been engulfed by a war between the army and the paramilitary forces
  • The war has killed tens of thousands of people, displaced 13 million and created was described as the world’s worst humanitarian crisis

PORT SUDAN, Sudan: Paramilitary forces fighting Sudan’s military have said they captured two strategic towns in the war-ravaged nation, which has been hit by a cholera outbreak that killed 70 people in the capital this week.

For more than two years Africa’s third-largest country has been engulfed by a war between the army, led by the nation’s de facto ruler, General Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

The surge in cholera infections comes weeks after drone strikes blamed on the RSF knocked out water and electricity supplies across the capital Khartoum, which now faces a mounting health emergency.

The RSF announced Thursday that its forces had retaken the key towns of Dibeibat, in South Kordofan state, and Al-Khoei, in West Kordofan state, which border South Sudan.

“The liberation of Dibeibat, followed by Al-Khoei, not only means a field victory; it also consolidates the complete control of the RSF over most of the Kordofan region,” an RSF spokesman said in a statement.

Al-Khoei, located around 100 kilometers (62 miles) from El-Obeid — a crossroads between Khartoum and the Darfur region — had been briefly recaptured by the army this month.

Residents confirmed to AFP that Dibeibat, which links the states of North and South Kordofan, was now under RSF control.

The conflict has effectively split Sudan in two: the army controls the center, east and north of the country, while paramilitaries hold almost all of Darfur in the west and parts of the south.

The war has killed tens of thousands of people, displaced 13 million and created what the United Nations has described as the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.

Last week, the military-backed government said it had dislodged RSF fighters from their last bases in Khartoum state, two months after retaking the heart of the capital from the paramilitaries.

Khartoum has been a battleground throughout the war and remains devastated, with health and sanitation infrastructure barely functioning.

Up to 90 percent of hospitals in the conflict’s main battlegrounds have been forced out of service by the fighting.

Now the capital is facing a major health crisis.

A cholera outbreak claimed 70 lives on Tuesday and Wednesday, the health ministry for Khartoum state said Thursday.

Health officials also recorded more than 2,100 new infections over the same two days.

But the UN’s humanitarian agency, OCHA, said it is “difficult to assess the true scale of the outbreak” with “significant discrepancies” in official data.

The federal health ministry reported 172 deaths in the week to Tuesday, 90 percent of them in Khartoum state.

Authorities said 89 percent of patients in isolation centers are recovering, but warn that deteriorating environmental conditions are driving a surge in cases.

Cholera vaccinations have begun in Jebel Awila, the hardest-hit district in Khartoum, UN chief Antonio Guterres’s spokesman said Thursday.

Meanwhile the World Health Organization had delivered more than 22 metric tons of cholera and emergency health supplies, spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.

Cholera is endemic to Sudan, but outbreaks have become worse and more frequent since the war broke out.

Since August, health authorities have recorded more than 65,000 cases and over 1,700 deaths across 12 of Sudan’s 18 states.

“Sudan is on the brink of a full-scale public health disaster,” said Eatizaz Yousif, the International Rescue Committee’s Sudan director.

“The combination of conflict, displacement, destroyed critical infrastructure and limited access to clean water is fueling the resurgence of cholera and other deadly diseases.”

Aid agencies warn that without urgent action, the spread of disease is likely to worsen with the arrival of the rainy season next month, which severely limits humanitarian access.

Sudan’s government also faces US sanctions over allegations by Washington that the Sudanese military used chemical weapons last year in its war against the RSF.

On Thursday, Sudan’s foreign ministry announced the creation of a national committee to investigate the charge, while expressing its “disbelief in the validity of the US administration’s accusations.”


US proposes 60-day ceasefire for Gaza, plan shows

US proposes 60-day ceasefire for Gaza, plan shows
Updated 30 May 2025
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US proposes 60-day ceasefire for Gaza, plan shows

US proposes 60-day ceasefire for Gaza, plan shows
  • The plan is guaranteed by US President Donald Trump and mediators Egypt and Qatar: document

A US plan for Gaza seen by Reuters on Friday proposes a 60-day ceasefire and the release of 28 Israeli hostages alive and dead in the first week and the release of 125 Palestinian prisoners sentenced to life and the remains of 180 dead Palestinians.
The plan, which says it is guaranteed by US President Donald Trump and mediators Egypt and Qatar, includes sending aid to Gaza as soon as Hamas signs off on the ceasefire agreement.
The plan stipulates that Hamas will release the last 30 hostages once a permanent ceasefire is in place.
The White House said on Thursday that Israel has agreed to the US ceasefire proposal.
The Palestinian militant group Hamas told Reuters it was reviewing the plan and will respond on Friday or Saturday.
Deep differences between Hamas and Israel have stymied previous attempts to restore a ceasefire that broke down in March.
Israel has insisted that Hamas disarm completely and be dismantled as a military and governing force and that all 58 hostages still held in Gaza must be returned before it will agree to end the war.
Hamas has rejected the demand to give up its weapons and says Israel must pull its troops out of Gaza and commit to ending the war.
Israel launched its campaign in Gaza in response to the devastating Hamas attack in southern Israel on October 7, 2023, that killed some 1,200 people and saw 251 Israelis taken hostage into Gaza, according to Israeli tallies.
The subsequent Israeli military campaign has killed more than 54,000 Palestinians, Gaza health officials say, and left the enclave in ruins.