‘Human shields’ IDF accused of using detainees to clear booby traps

After they burned down his family home in northern Gaza, Israeli troops separated Ramez al-Skafi from his family and detained him. They had a particular job in mind for him, he said.

- Malak A Tantesh, Julian Borger,Sufian Taha

For the next 11 days in early July, the 30-year-old Palestinian said he was sent into one house after another in his home district, Shuja'iya, watched by his Israeli military minders. According to the account he gave the Guardian, they turned him into a human shield against booby traps and Hamas gunmen.

“I tried to resist their proposal but they started beating me, and the officer told me it was not my choice to make and that I have to do whatever they want,” Skafi said. “He told me that my work would be searching the houses and telling them information about the homeowners. After some extreme pressure, I was left no choice.

“The next day I was told to go out on patrol with the Israeli soldiers, and I was very scared because of the tanks in front of me and the planes in the sky above me,” he continued. “When [his minders] noticed my fear, they assured me: 'They know you are with us.’”

Skafi was one of three Palestinians interviewed by the Guardian who said they had been used by units of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), sent far ahead of Israeli soldiers into unexplored houses and tunnels in Gaza. According to whistleblowers who spoke to the dissident veterans' group Breaking the Silence (BTS), the practice is widespread.

The forcible use of Palestinian detainees to enter houses and tunnels in Gaza first came into public view in footage broadcast by Al Jazeera television in June and July. An investigation by the Israeli newspaper Haaretz in August gathered testimony from Israeli soldiers who said the Palestinians used as shields were known as “shawish”, a word of Turkish origin meaning “sergeant”. The soldiers suggested it was an institutionalised tactic approved by senior officers. “It’s done with the knowledge of the brigade commander, at the least,” a conscript in a combat unit said.