An anonymous Israeli army officer reveals the widespread use of Palestinians as human shields during Gaza operations.
A senior officer in the Israeli army, writing anonymously for the newspaper Haaretz, admitted that Palestinians were used as human shields during combat operations in Gaza.
He said that the practice had already been used before but that it is now more prevalent than the Israeli public is led to believe.
“This is a new record,” he wrote, adding that “in Gaza, human shields are used at least six times a day.”
The officer suggested that if the military police were serious about investigating, there would be over 2,190 cases under investigation, accusing them of only conducting superficial investigations to appear accountable by blaming scapegoats.
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Having served in Gaza for nine months, the officer described new military procedures, particularly the controversial “mosquito procedure.”
“Innocent Palestinians (…) are forced to enter houses in Gaza and ‘qualify’ them (…) to check that there are no terrorists or explosives in them,” he wrote.
He noted that this infamous procedure began around December 2023, two months into the ground operation, before the shortage of police dogs used by the Oketz unit was raised as an excuse for using human shields.
The anonymous Israeli officer also referred to Haaretz’s August report, which revealed that Israel’s Chief of Staff and the Southern Command were aware of this practice, considering it an operational necessity due to the rapid pace of operations, despite its ethical concerns.
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He acknowledged that the practice continued because of the military and political leadership’s indifference.
“The most senior levels on the ground have known about human shields for more than a year, and no one tried to stop it,” he wrote, adding, “On the contrary, it was defined as an operational necessity.”
The officer said that the army “can enter houses even without human shields,” by using “a robot, drone, or dog.”
However, according to the report, “the reason we forced Palestinians to serve as human shields was not because it was safe, but because it was faster.”
The officer showed particular concern about the supposed “effect this has on the psyche” of Israeli soldiers.
