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WP: IDF used Palestinians in Gaza as human shields
Gaza, Palestine, November 4, 2024, 02:16 — Regnum News Agency. Israel Defense Forces (IDF) units involved in military operations in the Gaza Strip used Palestinian civilians as human shields, forcing them to carry out dangerous missions. This was reported on November 3 by the Washington Post, referring to the Israeli military and Palestinians.
"For two weeks in late July and early August... IDF forces in the Gaza Strip forced Palestinians into buildings that Israeli forces feared," the report said.
According to an interview with the Palestine Post newspaper, Israeli troops used detained Gazans as human shields and threatened them with life imprisonment.
One of the incidents took place in the Rafah area in the southern Palestinian territory. The IDF reportedly gave a detained Palestinian an Israeli military uniform with a camera attached to his helmet and forced him to inspect a house.
The Palestinian said: "I didn't know who was in the house and I was scared because I was wearing a military uniform. If there had been militants in the house, I probably would have died."
He added that every morning he was blindfolded, handcuffed and taken to another location. The next day, after inspecting one of the buildings, an explosion occurred and the Israeli military identified him as the perpetrator. According to the Palestinians, the unit commander threatened to kill their families.
Notably, the IDF has denied such allegations and has not said whether it has investigated similar incidents against Israeli soldiers.
According to the Palestinian Health Ministry as of November 3, IDF actions in the Gaza Strip have killed at least 43,300 people, including more than 16,700 children, since October 7, 2024. More than 102,000 people have been injured. As of the end of September 2024, more than 360 Israeli soldiers have been killed since the start of the IDF military operation in Gaza against the Palestinian Hamas movement.
As reported by the Regnum agency, earlier the Al Jazeera TV channel reported that at least 182 journalists were killed during the fighting in the Gaza Strip. It is known that reporters covering events taking place in Palestinian settlements receive serious physical and moral injuries.
On November 2, the heads of 15 UN agencies and humanitarian organizations signed a joint statement saying that the situation in Gaza was close to an apocalypse amid a humanitarian catastrophe and Israel’s ongoing military operation. In particular, it was noted that Israel had bombed dozens of schools and hospitals that were sheltering Palestinian refugees. In addition, the civil war had forced the postponement of polio vaccination campaigns, putting children’s lives at risk.