A new report on the use of Palestinian as Human Shields in the Gaza Strip was issued by Al Mezan Center for Human Rights today.
The report documents the occurrences of this crime by the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF), and calls for international protection of civilians under Israel's occupation in Gaza in accordance with international law.
The report describes the IOF take over of civilian homes, during which homes are used as military posts_en and their occupants are used as human shields to deter attacks on soldiers.
The inhabitants are placed commonly in one room of the home while the IOF continue its military operations in the area.
IOF soldiers break holes in walls, or snipers take off floor tiles to use them as cover over windows.
Residents are forced in some cases to perform acts for IOF soldiers.
The report monitors the IOF conducts against civilians that include forcing them to walk at gunpoint in front of the soldiers to protect them.
Civilians are also used to perform military tasks during operations, such as knocking on doors of neighbors, conducting searches, inspecting suspicious objects, or telling wanted persons to surrender.
IOF show flagrant disregard to civilians life and dignity during its military operations inside the Gaza Strip.
In one instance highlighted in the report, a Palestinian girl, Rana al Nabaheen, was used as a human shield by a group of soldiers.
She was told to knock on the door of her uncle's house by an IOF commander.
When she did so, another group of soldiers came around and shot her in the stomach.
The IOF commander did not take the trouble of reporting the use of the girl as a human shield and posed serious risk on her life.
It is worth noting that the Israeli Supreme Court banned the use of human shields during the IOF's operations.
This practice has frequently been condemned as a grave breach of International Humanitarian Law (IHL) that is tantamount to a war crime by Palestinian, international and Israeli human rights organizations.
Despite the Court ruling and organizations' condemnation, the IOF continues to use civilians as human shields in Gaza.
Al Mezan denounces this practice by the IOF, which is a blatant disregard of the rules of IHL and international human rights standards during its operations in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT).
The report calls on the international community, particularly the High Contracting Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention Relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Times of War, to fulfill their legal and moral obligations to stop the ongoing Israeli war crimes immediately and provide urgently needed international protection to the civilian population and property in the OPT.
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