How Israel Uses Palestinian Detainees as Human Shields

from The New York Times I'm Sabrina. tavernes and this is the. [Music]. daily overnight Israel agreed to a. ceasefire with the Lebanese armed group. Hezbollah a major turning point in one. of the wars Israel has been fighting. since Hamas attacked it on October 7th. but the war in Gaza shows no signs of. ending with Israel coming under.

increased scrutiny for the way it is. conducting it today a times. investigation into one controversial. tactic the Israeli use of Palestinian. detainees as human Shields and what it. reveals about the nature of the conflict. my colleague Natan odenheimer. [Music]. explains it's Wednesday November 27th. [Music].

so Natan a lot has been happening with. Israel in the past few days we had the. ceasefire with Lebanon and Hezbollah on. Tuesday night and the week before the. international criminal court issued. arrest warrants for Israeli Prime. Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former. Defense Minister yov Galant they issued. those warrants for war crimes and crimes. against humanity in Gaza you Natan have. been investigating another practice by.

the Israeli military one that's. unconnected to what happened in the. court but seems to also raise questions. about the rules of war and that is. Israel's use of Palestinians as human. Shields tell me exactly what you found. so actually I stumbled into this story. around January. 2024 I was filling my water bottle at. the gym when I heard someone who I. quickly understood was an Israeli. soldier who recently returned from Gaza. talking about seeing Palestinians being.

sent into Kamas tunnels that what he was. explaining is that the military is using. Palestinians as human Shields sending. them into Kamas tunnels ahead of Israeli. forces to probe those dangerous areas so. in other words this is an Israeli. soldier you're overhearing the guy just. came back from Gaza and he's recounting. how they used Palestinians as human. shields in. Gaza precisely and I immediately wanted. to know more if true if they were using.

Palestinians in this way in combat this. would be very very wrong and illegal. under both Israeli and international law. so I injected myself into the. conversation challenged him a bit to see. how insistent he is and he stood behind. the story and I went back home that day. knowing that I have to get to the bottom. of this to understand if this is. something that only happens in one or. two places and is very local or is this. something that is actually a widespread.

phenomena across the military so what. did you do next how did your reporting. take shape well so I had one lead right. I was able to get his number and I. called him up a few days later. introduced myself as a journalist said. that I'm interested to hearing more of. his thoughts about how the war is being. fought and when we got to this topic. again he shared a few more details. telling me more or less where it took. place but at some point he closed in and.

said that he'd want to stop the. conversation there he said that he's not. very willing to talk about this anymore. so basically he went dark before you. could actually understand exactly what. this phenomenon was right and we had a. lot of questions we wanted to know how. widespread it is who are those. Palestinians and mainly who authorized. this and slowly slowly we were able to. find more people some of them forward.

because he thought that it's very. disturbing others we just kept on asking. those questions and and we were able to. piece together a full picture and what. did that picture show so over a course. of about 10 months of Investigation we. Bilal shabir my colleague in Gaza and. Patrick kingley the Jerusalem bureau. chief of the New York Times were able to. uncover a disturbing practice of the. Israeli military in Gaza the Israeli. military was using Palestinians as human. shield in Gaza they were using them to.

probe Hamas tunnels and they sent them. ahead of forces into homes that they. were afraid were booby trapped by Hamas. in some cases Palestinian deanes were. dressed as IDF soldiers and in others. they were giving body cameras to take. with them to give live feed to Israeli. soldiers why use Palestinians for this. why do this at all for that matter you. know Israel has an incredibly. sophisticated military and presumably. the technology to do this kind of work.

right so there are different reasons so. first off as great as drones and robots. and even can9 dogs can probe tunnels a. human being that can walk and move. objects is way more efficient in probing. areas sometimes a person can do tasks. that a drone and a robot can't really do. and the other thing is that after three. months of War a Canan dog is not as. efficient as it was in the past they're.

too traumatized and they're confuted. from all the smell of the explosives. around so they lose their orientation so. whenever sniffer dogs robots or drones. weren't good enough to probe the tunnels. or walk ahead of forces into homes they. started using Palestinian prisoners as. human shields for Dangerous tasks so the. Israeli military is using people. Palestinian detainees to do this very.

dangerous job that even dogs at this. point can't do were you able to talk to. anyone who this actually happened to yes. so our reporter in Gaza Bal shabir spoke. with three Palestinians who spoke on the. record about their experience as being. used as human Shields one of them was a. a pharmacist named Bashir El dalu he's a. 43-year-old father of four from northern. Gaza in the beginning of the war he and. his family fled South and then around.

mid November he decided that he wants to. make a risky trip back to his home to. get some Essentials some things that his. family really needed at that point the. Israeli military considered any. Palestinian walking around these. unpopulated areas as a potential Hamas. operative I see because this was after. the Israelis had told everybody to. evacuate so anybody still there was. suspect right so after bash got to his. home the Israeli military detained.

him and by his account they order him at. gunpoint to undress and they blindfolded. him they took him Barefoot and almost. completely naked to a nearby yard of a. multi-story building and then they took. off the blindfold made sure that his. hands are tied in front of him and not. in the back so he'd be able to move. objects and told him to go ahead of.

forces and probe that area and this yard. according to his account was partly. ruined there were glass all over the. floor and aie was walking he was injured. by this glass because his feet were bare. yes exactly his feet were there and the. soldiers were staying behind giving him. directions from a megaphone so they. order him to move around the yard. looking into different places places. they thought were potentially booby TR.

or an entrance to a tunnel and then. there was noise coming out from around. an electricity. generator and the soldiers got really. afraid and started shooting in that. direction but it turned out that it was. a kitten that made all this noise and he. said that some of the soldiers laughed. in relief wow was he hurt he wasn't hurt. from the shooting but he was injured. from walking bareford on the glass. [Music].

so they used him as a human shield in. several instances but eventually they. decided to take him into Israel and send. him to an Israeli detention center and I. think that one of the things that really. sent chills into my arms when I heard. this story is that he said that he was. excited happy and relieved to get there. knowing that he's outside of this. dangerous Zone wow so that actually. shows you how frightening that was for. him that he felt better once he got to. the Israeli Detention Center not.

generally the kind of place that a gazin. would tend to feel very safe in yeah and. I think that it's also important to. mention that he was treated there for. his injuries but also released later on. sent back to Gaza which tells us that. the Israeli intelligence did not think. that he was involved with any militant. group right that he was essentially just. a civilian yeah yeah.

and what we later found out is that. ELO's experience wasn't that rare the. Israeli military used Palestinians as. human Shields again and again throughout. the. [Music]. war we'll be right back.

so Natan you said that you eventually. came to understand that the story of. Basher the pharmacist was actually not. that rare but what was the actual scope. of this what was the scale so it's very. difficult to understand the scale but we. spoke to 16 Israeli defense officials. and soldiers some of them participated. in this practice and most of them. described it as a rather routine. practice and it seemed to us that this.

practice became more and more widespread. throughout the war and one of the. reasons that made us understand that is. that we went to some people in say April. or March and ask them if they know. anything about it and they gave us a. hard no they said you know this is not. something that they would imagine people. would be doing but then again when we. Circle back in June or July suddenly. they said that they came across it and. even saw it with their own eyes so the. ice seemed to have gotten much more.

widespread as the war went on exactly. Sabrina and we were able to confirm that. this took place in at least 11 different. squads throughout the Gaza Strip so from. the north to the south in five. Palestinian cities and what really gave. us a clear idea that this is quite. commonplace practice was that it had a. term so the practice was broad enough. throughout the military that it had a.

name and you know people knew it that. implies. scope that's right so the first time we. heard these terms was in February a. soldier who came back from the. battlefields told us that already in. November he heard a senior Commander. explaining to his Deputy that a nearby. unit is asking for either a mosquito or. a wasp and what does he mean there I. mean mosquito and wasp so luckily for us. the deputy didn't know either and the.

more senior Commander explained to him. that a mosquito is a Palestinian who was. detained nearby in Gaza and was then. being used as a human shield in tunnels. or in other dangerous places as for. wasps we got varying accounts from. sources what we do know is that a wasp. is someone who was in Israel and was. brought into Gaza by Israeli. Intelligence Officers for brief and. specific missions and there was some.

disagreement about whether these were. detainees or whether these were paid. collaborators who volunteered to enter. Gaza with the military okay so in other. words mosquitoes are kind of like Basher. the pharmacist they maybe got swept up. in something inside Gaza but wasps were. different they were brought from Israel. back to Gaza and used there but why. would that happen what is the purpose of. moving them it seems quite complicated. to do so what I understood from several.

of the soldiers is that these are. sometimes. Palestinians who have knowledge of the. tunnels or other places sometime they. were being used as human Shields going. into those tunnels ahead of the forces. but they were also used for intelligence. and sometimes to point to places where. they told the Israeli military could. potentially be makeshift Graves of. hostages so places that Hamas have.

hidden the bodies of Israeli soldiers. taken captive on October 7th so in other. words they might have some specific. knowledge of where to look and where to. find things exactly the Israeli military. was hoping to squeeze as much. information as they could from those. people but the flip side of it is that. it also created a lot of paperwork and. bureaucracy and required Logistics and. coordination by different units and. different agencies as well. this suggests that senior commanders did.

not only know about it but sanctioned at. least several versions of this tactic. and what did the Israeli military say to. you when you confronted them about the. practice before you published your. article the Israeli military did not. deny this they said in the statement. that its directives and guidelines. strictly prohibit the use of detained. Gaza civilians for military operations. it added that the account of the. Palestinian Dainese and soldiers.

interview by the times would be examined. by the relevant. authorities so they said they'd look. into it what exactly are the laws and. conventions around this so using. civilians or militants as human shields. in a battlefield is completely illegal. not only by international law but also. by Israeli law and Israel has some. experience with that about two and a. half decades ago the Israeli military. used Palestinian civilians for risky.

missions mostly in the West Bank and. this went to court and the Israeli. Supreme Court said that this is. completely prohibited under Israeli Law. and Order the military to stop with this. practice but you shown here that they're. doing it again what happened after your. story published well we know that it was. discussed in the military and the. government but we can't really tell you. if the military took serious steps in. order to prevent it but it's also. important to note that the intensity of.

the war in Gaza went down significantly. in the past few months and it's possible. that this practice isn't as widespread. as it was in the height of the war but. as far as I know not one Israeli officer. or conscript was punished or even. investigated for participating in this. practice Nat I'm curious about those. Israeli soldiers that you talk to and. how they saw this practice I mean. fundamentally it was something that was.

meant to protect them of course but. clearly some of them must have felt. uncomfortable with it because they were. talking to you a journalist about it. right we wouldn't be able to report then. this story if it wasn't for the many. Israeli soldiers who felt disgusted and. Disturbed and horrified by the fact that. the Israeli military is using this. practice one soldier told us that his. entire platoon pushed back so hard that. they basically stopped using this.

practice in their platoon releasing the. two Palestinian civilians who they were. using as human Shields and I think that. one thing that really resonated with me. is that a soldier said that you know. even if this war is Justified it doesn't. mean that everything we do or everything. that we can do in this war is. Justified Natan at a high level it seems. like what you're reporting shows and. correct me if I'm wrong here is that the. Israeli military like Hamas is is. willing to sacrifice Palestinian.

civilians for their own military. purposes Israel of course accuses Hamas. of hiding within civilian populations. essentially using Palestinians as human. shields in Gaza and now we know that. Israel is also using Palestinians as. human shield so I'm wondering if you. think that the correct way to understand. your reporting here is actually a sort. of shared disregard both on the part of. the Israeli military and Hamas for.

Palestinian civilian. life well there is a Common Thread in. the disregard to Palestinian lives and. both are terribly wrong but they're each. going about it in their own way Hamas is. a terrorist organization that is showing. disregard for its own people whereas. Israel is a sovereign state that is. violating the rules of war and I think. that an important takeaway from this. story is how the Israeli military which.

is a military of a state that is a. member of the UN that has you know the. most powerful nations in the world as. allies has its military standards being. deteriorating to a place that it haven't. been ever before namely using. Palestinians as human shields in this. widespread way H and one way to. understand how it could have. deteriorated to this point is to be. reminded of the shock of Israeli Society.

after seeing the October 7th atrocities. and the Israeli Society was just. traumatized by this which clouded the. moral Judgment of many Israeli soldiers. walking into their roles in the military. and later marching into Gaza in other. words there's an emotional response. that's happening on the part of Israelis. and Israeli citizens who of course are. also Israeli soldiers and that is. clouding in some ways judgment and. allowing them or perhaps kind of.

inviting them to see. Palestinians in this dehumanized. way yeah and. also made them think that. Hamas are Palestinians and that. Palestinians are Hamas which is. something that is a bit hard for the. greater Israeli Society to understand. that there are many Palestinian Ians who. oppose Hamas or many Palestinians who.

are suffering from Hamas and who. suffered from Hamas even from before the. war but this shows a deterioration in. the regards to human lives by the. Israeli military and something that. we've never seen. before where then does Israel go from. here so we're in the stage of the war in. which the intensity of the fighting is. winding down in Gaza and also. the IC have just issued the orders.

against prime minister Benjamin netan. and former Minister of Defense yav. Galant so these two things make it. harder for Israelis to ignore the. consequences of the war in Gaza namely. the vast destruction and the many tens. of thousands of Palestinians who died in. this. [Music]. conflict and now Israeli Society that. has Justified this war throughout needs.

to face unjustified parts of it like in. the case that belal Patrick and I. uncovered about how it's using. Palestinians as human. [Music]. Shields Natan thank. you thank you Sabrina. [Music].

we'll be right. back here's what else you should know. today early this morning the ceasefire. between Israel and the Lebanese militia. group Hezbollah went into effect the. deal was announced by President Biden in. a televised address from the White House. on Tuesday night he said it was designed. to end the war between Israel and. Hezbollah. permanently it was a major turning point.

in a conflict that had displaced over a. million Lebanese and tens of thousands. of Israelis the conflict started on. October 7th when Hezbollah began firing. into Israel in solidarity with Hamas. Israel later retaliated killing the. group's longtime leader planting. explosives in the pagers used by the. group's operatives and conducting air. strikes against Hezbollah strongholds in. Lebanon the fighting has killed more. than 3,000 Lebanese and 100 Israelis and.

severely damaged. Hezbollah in the hours before the. ceasefire was set to take effect Israel. continued to hit Hezbollah strongholds. in Lebanon in the heaviest barrage since. the War Began the Lebanese Parliament is. expected to approve the agreement in a. vote on. Wednesday today's episode was produced. by Mo Zade Jessica Chum and Luke vender.

plug it was edited by MJ Davis Lynn with. help from Chris haxel with research. assistance by Susan Lee contains. original music by Dan Powell and Marian. Lozano and was engineered by Alysa. Moxley our theme music is by Jim. brunberg and Ben lansberg of. wonderly special thanks to Patrick. Kingsley. [Music].

[Music]. that's it for the daily I'm Sabrina. tavernes see you tomorrow. [Music].