Israeli cmdr killed Palestinian used as human shield in Gaza: Report
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The Palestinian man was compelled by Israeli occupation forces to serve as a human shield while they searched buildings in Khan Younis.
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An Israeli soldier adjusts his night vision goggles as his unit prepares to enter the Gaza Strip at the Gaza border in southern occupied Palestine, on Tuesday, December 31, 2024 (AP)
An Israeli military commander shot dead a Palestinian man who had been used as a human shield in Khan Younis, a city in southern Gaza, Israeli media reported on Wednesday.
According to The Hottest Place in Hell, an independent investigative journalism website, the Palestinian man was compelled by Israeli occupation forces to serve as a human shield while they searched buildings in Khan Younis and was subsequently shot and killed by a commander in the military's Nahal Brigade.
The report noted that the Palestinian man had authorization to be in the area. However, the army commander, upon identifying him as Palestinian, reportedly took out a rifle and shot him. The commander was allegedly unaware that the man was permitted to be inside the building being searched.
The Israeli occupation military said that "the incident was investigated by the brigade commander, and the findings have been implemented during troops’ current operations."
In August, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported that the Israeli military had used Palestinians as human shields during building searches in Gaza after soldiers were told "our lives are more important than their lives."
The Middle East Monitor news website noted that the use of Palestinians as human shields by the Israeli military has been a longstanding practice during operations in the occupied territories. This policy, referred to as the "neighbor procedure", was first introduced in 2002 in the occupied West Bank, the website added.
'Mosquito Protocol'; when IOF use Gaza detainees as human shields: CNN
In late October, CNN reported, citing an Israeli soldier and five former Palestinian detainees, that the Israeli occupation forces forced Palestinians into potentially booby-trapped houses and tunnels in Gaza, using them to avoid endangering their troops.
The soldier revealed that his unit detained two Palestinians with the explicit intent of using them as human shields to navigate hazardous areas, emphasizing that this practice is common among Israeli units in Gaza.
“We told them to enter the building before us,” he told CNN, adding that “if there are any booby traps, they will explode and not us.”
This method is referred to as the “Mosquito Protocol”, according to the report.
CNN mentioned that the full extent of the practice by the IOF is not well known. Nonetheless, the testimonies from the soldier and five civilians indicate that it was widespread throughout the besieged Strip, particularly in northern Gaza, Gaza City, Khan Younis, and Rafah.
In a similar report, a New York Times investigation revealed that Israeli soldiers and intelligence agents have been coercing detained Palestinians in Gaza to carry out life-threatening reconnaissance missions to avoid risking the lives of Israeli soldiers on the battlefield.
Palestinian abductees in Gaza have reportedly been forced to scout areas in Gaza where the Israeli military suspects Resistance fighters may have laid traps or prepared ambushes.
Read more: UN Special Rapporteur slams Israeli use of Palestinian as human shield
