NAZARETH, (PIC)
An Israeli soldier admitted to using Palestinian prisoners as human shields to “explore dangerous areas” in the Gaza Strip, which has been under continuous Israeli aggression for the second consecutive year.
The American news network CNN reported on Thursday that an Israeli soldier stated, “Our unit held two Palestinian prisoners in Gaza to use them as human shields to explore dangerous places, as they passed through the rubble and under threat of weaponry to potential bombed buildings and dark tunnels.”
The Israeli soldier recounted to the network how the infantry unit used the two Palestinians as human shields, saying, “We ordered them to enter the building ahead of us; if there were any traps, they would explode, not us.”
The soldier mentioned bringing a 16-year-old boy and a 20-year-old young man to his unit, noting that “their hands were tied behind their backs and they were blindfolded.”
He confirmed that the orders came from an Israeli intelligence officer who handed them over, saying he was instructed to take them in the next attack and use them as human shields, and that they had connections to Hamas.
When the soldier questioned this practice, he said one of his leaders told him it was “better for the Palestinian to explode than for our soldiers.”
For two days, his unit followed these orders—according to the soldier, who described a chilling scene: “The young Palestinian was surrounded by two soldiers ordering him to advance, and when we went to the attack site, before they entered the building, we lifted the cloth so he could see. I was with one of the soldiers who spoke Arabic.”
The soldier said that he and his comrades refused to continue this practice after two days and confronted their higher commander about it. However, their commander instructed them from the beginning not to “think about international law,” saying their lives were “more important.”
CNN reported that the soldier’s testimony, along with that of five Palestinian civilians, indicates this practice was widespread in the northern Gaza region, Gaza City, Khan Yunis, and Rafah. All described how they were captured by Israeli occupation forces and forced to enter potentially dangerous areas ahead of the army.
The network noted that this practice is very common in the Israeli army and is referred to as the “Mosquito Protocol.” It added that the organization “Breaking the Silence,” which provides a forum for Israeli soldiers to speak and verify their testimonies, supplied it with three images of the Israeli army using Palestinians as human shields in Gaza.
One impactful image shows soldiers urging a Palestinian civilian to advance amid a scene of destruction in northern Gaza. In a second image, two civilians used as human shields are seen bound and blindfolded, while a third image shows a soldier guarding a bound civilian.
