From the Editorial
La Jornada Newspaper
Friday, October 25, 2024, p. 22
The Israeli army forced Palestinians into potentially booby-trapped homes and tunnels in the Gaza Strip to avoid putting its troops in danger, an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) soldier and five former detainees said. having been victims of this practice, CNN reported.
The soldier, who said his unit held two Palestinian prisoners for the express purpose of using them as human shields to investigate dangerous locations, said the practice was common among Israeli units in Gaza.
We told them to enter the building before us.he explained. If there is an explosive trap, they will explode and not us. It was so common in the Israeli army that it had a name: mosquito protocol.
“We saw how Hamas used Palestinians as human shields […]. But for me it is more painful with my own army. Hamas is a terrorist organization. “The IDF should not use the practices of a terrorist organization,” the soldier added.
The exact scale and scope of this practice is not known by the Israeli army, but the testimony of both the soldier and the five civilians shows that it spread throughout the territory: in northern Gaza, Gaza City, Khan Yunis and Rafah.
When he questioned the practice, the soldier claimed that one of his commanders rebuked him: It is better that the Palestinians explode and not our soldiers. CNN was contacted by Breaking the Silence, an organization that provides a forum for Israeli soldiers to speak and verify their testimony, which also provided a photograph showing two soldiers urging a civilian to move forward at a scene. of devastation in northern Gaza. In a second image, two civilians used as human shields sit tied and blindfolded and a third photo shows a soldier protecting a tied civilian.
