GAZA, (PIC)
“They forced me to wear the uniform of the occupying army and enter homes to film them.” These are the words of a young Palestinian man recounting the harrowing experience he endured for days, during which Israeli forces used him as a human shield amid their ongoing assault on Gaza.
The young man, identified as M (22 years old), shares his terrifying ordeal, which began when Israeli forces arrested him east of Rafah in June. He says, “A soldier came and took me and another detainee, leading us to the ground floor of a house. They told us they were going to use us to film houses, streets, roads, and tunnels as human shields. We refused, but they threatened to shoot us and beat us with the butts of their guns and their hands.”
A terrifying testimony
M continued, “The soldiers forced us to wear Israeli military uniforms. Then, they made us walk for about five minutes to another location. During this time, one of them placed a helmet with a camera and headset on my head, and the same was done to the other person. They ordered us to enter a house and film it with the camera attached to the helmet.” His testimony, published by the Palestinian Center for Human Rights, reveals this chilling account.
Under the threat of being shot, M and his companion complied with the order to enter the houses and film them using the helmet-mounted cameras. The soldiers directed them as they moved inside, ordering them to film specific areas, focusing particularly on the ground floors.
M recalls, “After we finished filming a house, the army would storm it, shooting and destroying its contents.”
Filming a destroyed tank and being injured
M was held in detention for 42 days, during which he was used as a human shield approximately 15 times. He vividly remembers what happened on the morning of Tuesday, August 6, 2024, when an Israeli soldier came and ordered him to come with him.
“This time, I was alone, and I felt scared because they usually took us in groups of two or three. I refused to go, so the soldier hit me with the butt of his gun on my back, forcing me to go with him. They put me in a tank, which drove for about 10 minutes before stopping. They made me get out and ordered me to go to a previously destroyed tank to film it, but I was too terrified to comply.”
He added, “Under beating and threats from the soldiers, they placed the camera helmet on my head and sent me toward the destroyed tank with soldiers behind me. As I got about 10 meters from the tank, I felt a sharp pain in my chest on the right side. When I looked, I saw I was bleeding. I collapsed and lost consciousness.”
The next day, M woke up in a hospital. When he was released, he learned from medical reports that he had been taken to Soroka Medical Center, where a bullet had pierced his back and exited through his chest. Three days later, Israeli forces released him.
M is not the only one. Many Palestinians have shared horrifying testimonies about being used as human shields by Israeli forces during their bloody war on Gaza.
Leaked videos
Leaked videos have documented Israeli forces using detained Palestinian civilians as human shields and forcing them to scout dangerous combat zones.
The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor said that these videos represent a systematic policy carried out by the Israeli military. The organization confirmed that it had documented dozens of cases where civilians were used as human shields, providing cover for Israeli forces in what constitutes a war crime.
In a previous statement, the Euro-Med Monitor said the leaked footage broadcast by Al Jazeera showed the shocking scenes of civilians, including injured detainees, being forced into dangerous combat areas. Cameras were strapped to their bodies, and they were tied with ropes, reflecting the inhumane and brutal practices of the Israeli military, in grave violation of international humanitarian law.
Since the Israeli ground operations began in Gaza in late October 2023, the Euro-Med Monitor has documented dozens of cases in which Israeli forces used Palestinian civilians as human shields, coercing some to carry out military tasks that posed a direct threat to their lives. This included entering buildings or tunnels to search for explosives or tunnels, and holding others in homes or conflict zones, putting their lives at great risk, in violation of international humanitarian law.
Using families as human shields
On the evening of June 27, the Euro-Med Monitor documented a heinous crime against a civilian family composed of an elderly mother and her four children, including three girls and a one-and-a-half-year-old granddaughter. Israeli forces stormed their home in the Shuja’iyya neighborhood east of Gaza City, firing live rounds and grenades at them. The family was then held near Israeli tanks for more than three hours in a dangerous combat zone, used as human shields. Tragically, the mother, Safiya Hassan Mousa Al-Jammal, 65, was run over and killed by the treads of an Israeli tank while still alive, witnessed by her son.
In another instance on March 20, Israeli forces used Dr. Yahya Khalil Deeb Al-Kayali, 59, and several of his family members as human shields after storming their home. They were forced to stand on the balcony during an exchange of gunfire with armed groups in western Gaza City.
Tragedies at Al-Shifa Medical Complex
During the Israeli army’s raid on Al-Shifa Medical Complex in March, they used displaced patients and civilians as human shields, exploiting them to secure military operations inside the hospital. These civilians were sent under threat to nearby homes and buildings, instructing the residents to evacuate before the army stormed and destroyed some of the buildings.
A displaced man, identified as K.F. (who requested anonymity), described how Israeli forces ordered him and three other young men to enter several rooms within the medical complex, where cameras were fixed to their heads. They were forced to move around under remote orders from the soldiers to inspect certain areas.
He added that the soldiers made him move inside the general surgery building of Al-Shifa for several hours before he was forcibly evacuated with his wife and daughter. He knows nothing about the fate of the other young men used as human shields in the same incident.
In a related testimony, an elderly man in his sixties, identified as M.N., said Israeli forces forced his eldest son to enter the basements and sewage areas of Al-Shifa. He also witnessed other detainees placed inside armored vehicles during combat, and others were forced to stand behind Israeli soldiers and their military equipment to shield them from attacks.
The wife of a paramedic forced to evacuate Al-Shifa without her husband recounted how Israeli forces used her husband as a human shield to open doors in the hospital for hours. She fears that he may have been killed.
Several families living near Al-Shifa reported that the Israeli army forced young men arrested from the hospital to enter their homes and order them to evacuate immediately and move to central or southern Gaza.
A woman from the Arafat family said they were shocked when a man in his late thirties, stripped down to his underwear, entered their home. He told them that the Israeli army had sent him to order them to evacuate within 30 minutes, or the house would be bombed. She noted that as they left, they saw other Palestinian men in a similar state, forced by the Israeli army to enter neighboring homes and warn the residents to leave.
