IDF denies report troops are using detained Gazans as human shields
Israeli military says its rules ‘forbid’ such activity, though NY Times cites retired IDF Brig. Gen Tamir Hayman saying detainees are coerced or volunteer for such operations
The Israel Defense Forces on Monday denied a report in the New York Times alleging that its troops were using Gazans as human shields during operations in the Strip.
The military told The Times of Israel that “the orders and instructions of the IDF forbid using civilians in Gaza who were arrested in the field for military missions.”
“The orders and instructions are made clear regularly to soldiers in the field during the war,” the IDF added.
But according to the report, Israeli soldiers have “regularly forced captured Palestinians” to carry out reconnaissance missions throughout operations in Gaza, seeking to minimize harm to troops. The newspaper said it spoke with seven IDF soldiers who said the practice was “routine, commonplace, and organized.”
The outlet also cited retired IDF Brig. Gen Tamir Hayman, a former head of the Military Intelligence Directorate, saying that some detainees had either been coerced into entering suspected booby-trapped tunnels or volunteered to guide troops in the field in order to seek favor with the military.
Israel launched a war against Hamas in Gaza following the terror group’s October 7, 2023, onslaught against southern Israel, during which thousands of terrorists stormed across the border, killing around 1,200 people, wounding thousands, and taking 251 people hostage in Gaza. Since the start of the IDF ground operation in late October 2023, 335 Israeli soldiers have been killed fighting in the Strip.
The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry says more than 42,000 people in the Strip have been killed or are presumed dead in the fighting so far, though the toll cannot be verified and does not differentiate between civilians and fighters. Israel says it has killed some 17,000 combatants in battle as of August and another 1,000 terrorists inside Israel on October 7.
Israel has long accused Hamas of using Gazan civilians as human shields as common practice, positioning rocket launchers, command centers and other operations in the heart of residential areas. Many released and rescued hostages from Gaza have testified that they were held in homes in crowded apartment buildings among families.
The IDF has also repeatedly shared evidence showing that Hamas operatives continue to use schools, mosques, and the designated “humanitarian zone” in the Strip as bases of operation for its plans to target Israeli soldiers and civilians.
The Israeli military has often cited information gathered from Gazan detainees as being used in operations to rescue hostages or recover their bodies from Gaza. In July, the Shin Bet published a photograph showing a handcuffed Palestinian detainee dressed in protective gear alongside IDF troops during an operation to recover the bodies of five Israeli hostages.
Last month, Health Minister Uriel Buso defended the treatment of detained Gazan terror suspects, saying that “some of those terrorists treated in the system entered with [troops] into Gaza, into tunnels” in the search for hostages.
The New York Times report said that the IDF soldiers they spoke to indicated that the practice required “the awareness of senior field commanders.” Some soldiers in the field expressed opposition to the practice, the newspaper said, but their concerns were largely dismissed, and the detainees were referred to as “terrorists” even if there was no evidence of any affiliation to Hamas.
The report said that it found no evidence that any Palestinian detainees used by troops had been harmed or killed, and that one Israeli soldier was shot and killed after a detainee searched a building and did not report anyone hiding inside.
The newspaper said that while IDF troops have often used drones and sniffer dogs to conduct reconnaissance operations in the often-booby trapped Hamas tunnels as well as in homes and buildings rigged with explosives, at times they used detained Palestinians — referring to detainees brought in from Israel for such a purpose as “wasps” and those captured locally and used in the field as “mosquitoes.”
One such detainee, who identified himself to The New York Times as Mohammed Shubeir, from Khan Younis, said that at one point, while he was held by troops, the soldiers made him wear an IDF uniform and “wander the streets, so that Hamas fighters might fire at him and reveal their positions.”
After 10 days of such activity, he said, the IDF soldiers let him go free inside Gaza.