Human shields in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict
The accusation of the use of human shields is a common theme in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. Both the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), and Palestinian militant groups (including Hamas) have used civilians as human shields to discourage the opposing side from attacking. Many activists have often voluntarily used themselves as human shields to stop Israeli violence against Palestinians: these include the International Solidarity Movement, and Israeli leftists.
The Israeli Defense Forces have been documented to use Palestinians as human shields. Examples of this include: IDF soldiers putting Palestinian civilians in front of them or otherwise putting civilians in the line of fire, and forcing Palestinians to remove suspicious objects (possible explosives). IDF soldiers also force Palestinian civilians to walk through suspected booby-trapped buildings. Israel also formerly employed the "neighbor procedure" in which Palestinian civilians were forced to attempt to persuade wanted individuals to surrender themselves to the IDF. The latter practice was defended by the Israeli defense ministry, but prohibited in 2005 by the Israeli Supreme Court, though there have been accusations of its employment even after the ruling. During the 2009 invasion of Gaza, IDF reportedly used Palestinian families (both adult and children) as human shields.
Hamas has also been accused of using human shields strategically by NATO, the UN, EU, US, Israel, and several European countries. This strategy has included launching rockets and positioning military infrastructure in civilian areas, and aimed at exploiting Israel's efforts to minimize civilian casualties and Western public opinion, has been observed in various conflicts, including the 2008, 2014, and 2023 Israel-Hamas wars. This tactic of human shields has been cited as a form of 'lawfare' by NATO, utilizing legal and public platforms to challenge adversaries, and has been offered as an explanation for Israel's attacks on civilian infrastructure. Human rights organizations have however found the accusations against Hamas in past conflicts to have been unfounded, with Amnesty International saying it had found no evidence of human shielding by Hamas in the 2008-2009 war and the 2014 war.