Former soldier says Israel using Palestinians as human shields – NRK Urix – Foreign news and documentaries

– At first we thought it was an isolated case, but gradually we learned that it was a widespread practice and guidance from the top, ”said Nadav Weiman to NRK.

Palestinian prisoners in Gaza were forced to wear IDF uniforms and asked to enter the most dangerous areas of the Gaza Strip.

According to soldiers interviewed by Breaking the Silence and Haaretz, these were supposedly instructions from the IDF leadership.

Wayman, a former sharpshooter in the Israel Defense Forces in the Gaza Strip, is now the leader of the group Breaking the Silence.

One veteran, who wished to remain anonymous, told the group that “our lives are more important than theirs.”

Together with Israeli newspapers Haaretz Have they spoken to former soldiers in Gaza who say the practice of using Palestinian civilians as shields is common among the Israeli defense establishment?

Worked as a sniper in Gaza

Nadav Weiman has been a sharpshooter in the Israel Defense Forces for twelve years.

Breaking the Silence is made up of former soldiers of the Israel Defense Forces who collect information about the soldiers’ experiences in the Gaza Strip and the occupied West Bank.

At the same time, they oppose the Israeli occupation.

After October 7, when the war between Hamas and Israel broke out, they began hearing stories from soldiers in Gaza and the West Bank about the IDF using Palestinian civilians as human shields.

As they looked more closely, they understood that these had to be indicative of the defense itself, as this happened in multiple places in the Gaza Strip and in different parts of the defense.

– Palestinians are taken from humanitarian corridors. In some cases, they are dressed in military uniforms, some with cameras on their heads, Wehman explained.

– They were then sent to investigate tunnels or buildings that the IDF believed might be traps.

According to the organization, they could be held for days or weeks and would be sent back to their families after the IDF processes them.

– One soldier said that since they later sent them back, they knew they were not Hamas or jihadists. Otherwise they would have arrested them, said Wayman.

It used to be an official order

Weinman said this has been public guidance from the Israeli Ministry of Defense in the past. He called it the “neighborhood process.”

Israel’s Supreme Court stopped this practice as early as 2005.

– It turns out that if you are going to arrest someone, you would rather use Palestinian neighbors, for example, to knock on the door or enter the house so that they have the confidence that they can then enter.

But he said what is happening in Gaza now is completely different.

– This is the first time we hear of the use of civilian military uniforms. Frankly I am surprised.

One soldier who spoke to Breaking the Silence said he asked his superiors why they did this.

– Then he replied that it was because they had no dogs and it was better for Palestinians to be killed than for them to be killed themselves.

– This goes against everything I learned as a special forces soldier or as an ordinary Israeli. Soldiers must fight with other soldiers, not against other people, the former sharpshooter said.

He recounted a time when, as a soldier, he had to arrest a man in Westbreda. They were walking through narrow alleys and were outnumbered. The Palestinian was handcuffed and blindfolded.

Another soldier pointed an M16 rifle at him and told him to get out first and walk through the darkness back to the car.

– He was our shield. I remember vividly the tempers and arguments that followed. It was illegal and completely wrong, Weinman said.

– Clearly a war crime

– Foreign Minister Espen Bart Eide said that if the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) did use Palestinian prisoners as human shields in Gaza, then this was a serious and clear war crime.

– He added that Norway condemned the use of human shields and that neither Hamas nor the IDF was responsible.

International law expert Cecily Helstedt said that when Israeli soldiers use the enemy’s population to protect themselves from enemy attacks, they are actually using immune people to increase their own military advantage.

This cannot be equated with Hamas using its “own” civilians to launch attacks to increase Israel’s political costs, Helistvedt believes.

– If Israeli soldiers use Palestinians with war victim status as shields against Palestinian attacks, this is clearly illegal and would constitute a war crime in most cases.

In comments to NRK, the IDF wrote that IDF orders and instructions prohibit the use of Gaza civilians, who are prisoners, to carry out military tasks that put them at risk, and this has been clarified with personnel on the ground.

– The claims in this article have been referred to the relevant regulatory authorities for review.