Israeli soldiers and former detainees tell AP Israel’s use of human shields in Gaza is widespread
Several Palestinians and Israeli soldiers have told the Associated Press (AP) that troops are systematically forcing Palestinians to act as human shields in Gaza, sending them into buildings and tunnels to check for bombs and gunmen. They told the AP that the practice has become ubiquitous over 19 months of war.
The AP spoke with seven Palestinians who described being used as shields in Gaza and the occupied West Bank and with two members of Israel’s military who said they engaged in the practice, which is prohibited by international law.
In response to these allegations, Israel’s military says it strictly prohibits using civilians as shields – a practice it has long accused Hamas of using in Gaza. Israeli officials blame the militants for the civilian death toll in its offensive that has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians.
In a statement to the AP, the military said it also bans otherwise coercing civilians to participate in operations, and “all such orders are routinely emphasised to the forces.”
The military said it is investigating several cases alleging that Palestinians were involved in missions, but would not provide the AP with details. The news agency said that the Israeli military did not answer questions about the reach of the practice or any orders from commanding officers.
Rights groups say Israel has used Palestinians as shields in Gaza and the West Bank for decades. The supreme court outlawed the practice in 2005, but the groups continued to document violations, reports the AP.
Experts say this war is the first time in decades the practice – and the debate around it – has been so widespread.
More on this story in a moment, but first, here are some other key updates:
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The Israeli army reported that 83 trucks carrying humanitarian aid entered Gaza via the Kerem Shalom Crossing on Friday, after security inspections. The aid included food, medical equipment and medicines.
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The UN has called for more aid in Gaza to meet the territory’s “massive needs”. In its latest humanitarian update, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (Ocha) said it “stressed once again that the small amounts of supplies being allowed into the Gaza Strip are nowhere near enough to roll back the extreme deprivation that Gaza’s population is facing”.
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UN secretary general António Guterres said on Friday that Palestinians were enduring “the cruellest phase” of the war in Gaza, where more than a dozen food trucks were looted after the partial easing of a lengthy Israeli blockade.
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Gaza’s civil defence agency said Israeli strikes killed at least six people on Saturday across the Palestinian territory, where Israel has ramped up its military offensive in recent days. “Our teams have recovered at least six dead,” civil defence agency spokesperson Mahmud Bassal told Agence France-Presse (AFP).
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More than 40 leading Jewish organisations issued a joint set of urgent requests from the US government after Wednesday’s deadly shooting outside Washington’s Capital Jewish Museum, Haaertz reported.
Key events
Gaza civil defence says 15 killed in Israeli strikes
Gaza’s civil defence agency said that Israeli strikes killed at least 15 people on Saturday across the Palestinian territory.
Civil defence agency spokesperson Mahmud Bassal told Agence France-Presse (AFP) the dead included a couple who were killed with their two young children in a pre-dawn strike on a house in the Amal quarter of the southern city of Khan Younis.
To the west of the city, at least five people were killed by a drone strike on a crowd of people that had gathered to wait for aid trucks, he said.
At Khan Younis’s Nasser hospital, tearful mourners gathered around white-shrouded bodies outside, reports AFP.
“Suddenly, a missile from an F-16 destroyed the entire house, and all of them were civilians – my sister, her husband and their children,” Wissam Al-Madhoun told the news agency. “We found them lying in the street. What did this child do to [Israeli prime minister Benjamin] Netanyahu?”
The Israeli military said it was unable to comment on individual strikes without their “precise geographical coordinates”, reports the AFP.
In a statement, the military said that over the past day the air force had struck more than 100 targets across the territory, including members of “terrorist organisations in the Gaza Strip, military structures, underground routes and additional terrorist infrastructure”.
Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was holding talks with Syrian president Ahmed al-Sharaa in Istanbul on Saturday, broadcaster CNN Turk and state media said, according to Reuters.
State broadcaster TRT Haber published photos of al-Sharaa shaking hands in Erdoğan’s offices at the Dolmabahce Palace in Istanbul. No further details were immediately available.
The African Union (AU) called for a permanent ceasefire in Libya on Saturday after deadly clashes in the capital earlier this month and demonstrations demanding the prime minister’s resignation, reports Agence France-Presse (AFP).
Despite a lack of a formal ceasefire, the clashes mostly ended last week, with the Libya defence ministry saying this week that efforts towards a truce were “ongoing”.
On Saturday, the AU’s peace and security council condemned the recent violence, calling for an “unconditional and permanent ceasefire”.
In a statement on X, the council urged “inclusive, Libyan-led reconciliation”, adding that it “appeals for no external interference”.
UN calls for more aid to meet ‘massive needs’ in Gaza
In its latest humanitarian update on Friday, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (Ocha) called for more aid in Gaza to meet the “massive needs” of the territory.
Ocha said “the small amounts of supplies being allowed into the Gaza Strip are nowhere near enough to roll back the extreme deprivation that Gaza’s population is facing”.
It also pointed to a statement by the World Health Organization (WHO) who warned on Thursday that the intensification of hostilities had “brought Gaza’s already weakened health system to a breaking point”.
Ocha said the WHO’s warning followed an attack on al-Awda hospital, in northern Gaza, where patient triage tents – including one provided by WHO – caught fire. All medical supplies in the warehouse were burnt and vehicles in the basement had been left destroyed, it added.
It listed four major hospitals – Kamal Adwan, Indonesia, Hamad and European Gaza – as having had to suspend medical services because of hostilities, attacks or displacement orders in their areas.
Egypt has flown 71 nationals home from the Libyan capital Tripoli after deadly clashes between rival militias in the city earlier this month, the foreign ministry said.
Friday’s special flight by flag carrier EgyptAir “enabled the repatriation of 71 Egyptian citizens who had expressed a desire to come home”, the ministry said, reports Agence France-Presse (AFP).
From 12 May to 15, the Libyan capital saw fighting between an armed group aligned with the Tripoli-based government and factions it has sought to dismantle. The clashes, which saw artillery exchanges in the city centre, killed at least eight people, according to the United Nations.
Although relative calm has since returned to the city, the situation remains highly volatile as calls grow for the resignation of prime minister Abdulhamid Dbeibah.
Turkey evacuated 82 of its nationals from Tripoli on a similar repatriation flight last week, reports AFP.
The United Nations secretary general said on Friday that Palestinians were enduring “the cruelest phase” of the war in Gaza, where more than a dozen food trucks were looted after the partial easing of a lengthy Israeli blockade.
Gaza civil defence agency official Mohammed al-Mughayyir told Agence France-Presse (AFP) at least 71 people were killed, while “dozens of injuries, and a large number of missing persons under the rubble have been reported as a result of Israeli airstrikes” on Friday.
The UN’s António Guterres said “Palestinians in Gaza are enduring what may be the cruelest phase of this cruel conflict”, adding that Israel “must agree to allow and facilitate” humanitarian deliveries.
According to AFP, Guterres noted that of the nearly 400 trucks cleared to enter Gaza in recent days, only 115 were able to be collected. He added in a statement.
In any case, all the aid authorised until now amounts to a teaspoon of aid when a flood of assistance is required.
“Meanwhile, the Israeli military offensive is intensifying with atrocious levels of death and destruction,” he said.
The World Food Programme said Friday that 15 of its “trucks were looted late last night in southern Gaza, while en route to WFP-supported bakeries”.
“Hunger, desperation, and anxiety over whether more food aid is coming, is contributing to rising insecurity,” the UN body said in a statement, calling on Israeli authorities “to get far greater volumes of food assistance into Gaza faster”.
Here are some of the latest images coming in via the newswires:
Syria on Saturday hailed the Trump administration’s lifting of US sanctions, as Washington hopes to open a new chapter in its relations with Damascus, reports Agence France-Presse (AFP).
US president Donald Trump surprised many with his announcement of the new policy on a Gulf tour earlier this month, during which he shook hands with Syria’s interim president Ahmed al-Sharaa.
Trump said he wanted to give the war-torn country’s new rulers “a chance at greatness” after their overthrow of longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad in December.
“The Syrian Arab Republic welcomes the decision from the American government to lift the sanctions imposed on Syria and its people for long years,” a foreign ministry statement said, according to AFP.
It described the move as “a positive step in the right direction to reduce humanitarian and economic struggles in the country”.
Israeli armed forces carried out an airstrike on the town of Toul in southern Lebanon, killing one person and injuring another.
The strikes began on Thursday afternoon and the Israeli military issued an evacuation warning for residents of Toul, just outside the city of Nabatieh, before carrying out an airstrike there.
Aletha Adu
UK ministers are under pressure from inside and outside Labour to recognise Palestinian statehood at a UN conference next month, with party grandees arguing it would bolster prospects for peace and demonstrate moral leadership amid escalating tensions.
Alf Dubs, the veteran Labour peer and Holocaust survivor, said the symbolic recognition of a Palestinian state would offer Palestinians “the self-respect they’d have if they had a proper state,” and provide them a stronger footing in any future peace negotiations.
“Even if it doesn’t lead to anything immediately, it would still give Palestinians a better standing,” Lord Dubs said. “Symbols matter.”
The former cabinet minister Peter Hain echoed the call, warning that “delaying recognition until negotiations are concluded simply allows Israel’s illegal occupation to become permanent”. Lord Hain argued that formal recognition should be “a catalyst, not a consequence” of peace talks.
At the first preparatory meeting in New York before a UN conference on a two state solution due to be held between 17 and 20 June, Saudi Arabia urged countries to recognise Palestine as a state, saying that “recognition should be seen as a precondition for peace, and not its product”.
The conference is seen as a potential moment when states such as France and the UK that have yet to recognise Palestine take what would be a momentous diplomatic step.
Here is more on the report by the Associated Press (AP) of Israeli soldiers being accused of the widespread use of human shields in Gaza:
The two Israeli soldiers who spoke to the AP – and a third who provided testimony to Israeli non-governmental organisation Breaking the Silence – said commanders were aware of the use of human shields and tolerated it, with some giving orders to do so. Some said it was referred to as the “mosquito protocol” and that Palestinians were also referred to as “wasps” and other dehumanising terms.
The soldiers said they first became aware human shields were being used shortly after 7 October 2023, when Hamas attacked Israel, and that it became widespread by the middle of 2024. Orders to “bring a mosquito” often came via radio, they said – shorthand everyone understood. Soldiers acted on commanding officers’ orders, according to the officer who spoke to the AP.
He said that by the end of his nine months in Gaza, every infantry unit used a Palestinian to clear houses before entering. “Once this idea was initiated, it caught on like fire in a field,” the 26-year-old said. “People saw how effective and easy it was.”
He described a 2024 planning meeting where a brigade commander presented to the division commander a slide reading “get a mosquito” and a suggestion they might “just catch one off the streets”.
The officer wrote two incident reports to the brigade commander detailing the use of human shields, reports that would have been escalated to the division chief, he said. The Israeli military said it had no comment when asked whether it received them.
One report documented the accidental killing of a Palestinian, he said – troops did not realize another unit was using him as a shield and shot him as he ran into a house. The officer recommended the Palestinians be dressed in army clothes to avoid misidentification.
He said he knew of at least one other Palestinian who died while used as a shield – he passed out in a tunnel.
In a statement to the AP, the military said it also bans otherwise coercing civilians to participate in operations, and “all such orders are routinely emphasised to the forces.” The military said it is investigating several cases alleging that Palestinians were involved in missions, but would not provide details.
Gaza civil defence says six killed in Israeli strikes
Gaza’s civil defence agency said Israeli strikes killed at least six people on Saturday across the Palestinian territory, where Israel has ramped up its military offensive in recent days.
“Our teams have recovered at least six dead,” civil defence agency spokesperson Mahmud Bassal told Agence France-Presse (AFP).
He said a couple were killed with their two young children in a pre-dawn strike on a house in the Amal quarter of the southern city of Khan Younis. Another two people were killed in a strike on the Nuseirat refugee camp in the centre of the territory, he said.
The Israeli military said it was unable to comment on individual strikes without their “precise geographical coordinates”.
Israeli soldiers and former detainees tell AP Israel’s use of human shields in Gaza is widespread
Several Palestinians and Israeli soldiers have told the Associated Press (AP) that troops are systematically forcing Palestinians to act as human shields in Gaza, sending them into buildings and tunnels to check for bombs and gunmen. They told the AP that the practice has become ubiquitous over 19 months of war.
The AP spoke with seven Palestinians who described being used as shields in Gaza and the occupied West Bank and with two members of Israel’s military who said they engaged in the practice, which is prohibited by international law.
In response to these allegations, Israel’s military says it strictly prohibits using civilians as shields – a practice it has long accused Hamas of using in Gaza. Israeli officials blame the militants for the civilian death toll in its offensive that has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians.
In a statement to the AP, the military said it also bans otherwise coercing civilians to participate in operations, and “all such orders are routinely emphasised to the forces.”
The military said it is investigating several cases alleging that Palestinians were involved in missions, but would not provide the AP with details. The news agency said that the Israeli military did not answer questions about the reach of the practice or any orders from commanding officers.
Rights groups say Israel has used Palestinians as shields in Gaza and the West Bank for decades. The supreme court outlawed the practice in 2005, but the groups continued to document violations, reports the AP.
Experts say this war is the first time in decades the practice – and the debate around it – has been so widespread.
More on this story in a moment, but first, here are some other key updates:
-
The Israeli army reported that 83 trucks carrying humanitarian aid entered Gaza via the Kerem Shalom Crossing on Friday, after security inspections. The aid included food, medical equipment and medicines.
-
The UN has called for more aid in Gaza to meet the territory’s “massive needs”. In its latest humanitarian update, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (Ocha) said it “stressed once again that the small amounts of supplies being allowed into the Gaza Strip are nowhere near enough to roll back the extreme deprivation that Gaza’s population is facing”.
-
UN secretary general António Guterres said on Friday that Palestinians were enduring “the cruellest phase” of the war in Gaza, where more than a dozen food trucks were looted after the partial easing of a lengthy Israeli blockade.
-
Gaza’s civil defence agency said Israeli strikes killed at least six people on Saturday across the Palestinian territory, where Israel has ramped up its military offensive in recent days. “Our teams have recovered at least six dead,” civil defence agency spokesperson Mahmud Bassal told Agence France-Presse (AFP).
-
More than 40 leading Jewish organisations issued a joint set of urgent requests from the US government after Wednesday’s deadly shooting outside Washington’s Capital Jewish Museum, Haaertz reported.
