Human shields

Human shields

During the second intifada, the Palestinian popular uprising, the Israeli military used Palestinian civilians as human shields. Soldiers would order Palestinians to perform tasks such as entering homes to check for booby traps or the removal of suspicious objects from roads. This use of civilians was not a local initiative by soldiers, but rather implementation of a decision made by senior military authorities. In 2005, Israel’s High Court of Justice declared it unlawful to use Palestinian civilians in military operations. Nonetheless, B’Tselem has documented instances of this practice taking place subsequent to the court's decision.

Background on Human Shields

Featured update

1 Feb 2012

B'Tselem's demands for investigation after Operation Cast Lead

Removal of the bodies at the end of Operation Cast Lead from the ruins of the house where soldiers had gathered the a-Samuni family. Photo: Muhammad Sabah, B'Tselem, 18 Jan. '09.

After the operation B'Tselem wrote to the MAG Corps demanding investigations of the Military Police Investigation Unit (MPIU) into 20 incidents that had taken place during the operation. In each of the incidents, B'Tselem's field research raised serious suspicions that military actions had harmed unarmed, uninvolved civilians, in violation of international humanitarian law. View list of cases and investigations status

B'Tselem report - "Human Shield"

Use of Palestinian Civilians as Human Shields in Violation of High Court Order"

The report, published in Nov. 2002, exposed a list of incidents in which the IDF violated a High Court of Justice injunction by using Palestinians as human shields (as part of the "neighbor procedure"). The report revealed for the first time that IDF soldiers also used Palestinian civilians in the action that led to the killing of Iyad Sawalha in Jenin on 9 Nov. 2002. 

In the report's conclusions, B'Tselem urges the IDF to order its soldiers not to demand civilians to perform military assignments. The order given to soldiers must be unambiguous. B'Tselem also demands that the IDF immediately investigate all the cases appearing in the report and initiate proceedings against all soldiers involved in this forbidden practice. Read More

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