In a deeply distressing incident in the Gaza Strip, Israeli forces have allegedly tied explosives around the neck of an 80-year-old Palestinian man and forced him to act as a human shield before killing him and his wife.
An investigation by Israeli news website HaMakom revealed that the incident took place in May 2024 when Israeli forces from several brigades besieged the home of the elderly couple in Gaza City’s al-Zaytun neighbourhood.
The forces present at the time of the incident reported that the couple’s children had fled, leaving them with no choice but to remain.
A senior officer from the Nahal Brigade threatened to blow up the man’s head if he did not carry out their orders. It is worth noting that the man had difficulty walking and relied on a cane.
He was forced to walk in front of the forces for eight hours, during which he was made to enter houses to search for resistance fighters or weapons.
It is reported that after completing the mission, the forces ordered the elderly man and his wife to head to the southern part of the Strip. However, they were shot by another military unit 100 metres away, resulting in their immediate deaths.
This was not the first incident of its kind, as many human rights organisations have documented the Israeli forces use of Palestinians as human shields over the years.
In 2002, during the Second Intifada, the Israeli army used Palestinians in house raids.
During the 2014 war on Gaza, cases of Palestinian children being detained and used as human shields were documented.
In the recent war on Gaza, press and human rights reports have shown an increase in the use of Palestinians as human shields, which is considered a flagrant violation of international law, including the Fourth Geneva Convention, which prohibits the use of civilians in this context.
