"Israeli soldiers used an 80-year-old Gazan as a human shield. Then they killed him"

[moniss]

This is the title to an article from +972 which is an independent Israeli news site and it is dated 2/16/25. The subtitle is "Soldiers put an explosive cord around the man's neck and forced him to scout buildings for eight hours. After his release, another division shot him dead."

The story came from details given by IDF soldiers as the article describes "A senior officer in the Israeli army’s Nahal Brigade tied an explosive cord around the neck of an 80-year-old Palestinian man and forced him to serve as a human shield, ordering him to scout out abandoned houses under threat of having his head blown off. After he had served his purpose, the soldiers ordered the man to flee with his wife, but upon being spotted by another battalion they were both shot dead on the spot.

Soldiers present at the scene told the Israeli investigative outlet The Hottest Place in Hell that this incident took place in May in the Zeitoun neighborhood of Gaza City. While conducting a sweep of houses in the area, soldiers came across the elderly couple in their home, who told Arabic-speaking soldiers that they were unable to flee to southern Gaza due to their mobility difficulties; their children had already left, and the man needed a cane to walk."

After using him in the supposedly banned practice called the "Mosquito Procedure" for 8 hours they took the man back to his elderly wife and told them to evacuate towards the "humanitarian zone". But they never informed the other IDF units around them that an elderly couple would be crossing through the area. they made it about 100 meters before being shot dead by another IDF unit.

Although the practice of using civilians in this manner is supposedly forbidden it has become common practice according to IDF soldiers being interviewed for an article "In response to a Haaretz investigation last August that exposed the Mosquito Procedure, the IDF Spokesperson stated: “IDF directives and orders prohibit the use of Gazan civilians found in the area for military tasks that deliberately endanger their lives. IDF orders and instructions on this matter have been clarified to the forces.” The use of civilians as human shields was also banned by the Israeli Supreme Court during the Second Intifada, following the army’s use of the strategy in what was known as the “Neighbor Procedure.” However, soldiers testified to The Hottest Place in Hell that especially since October 7, “this procedure has become routine in the military.”

The Israeli government leadership can pretend they don't know but that is not believable. It also makes a mockery of their protests about the indictments from the ICC. The denials are structured to deflect any blame at all to individual soldiers as explained “The Mosquito Procedure is fully institutionalized, and it’s a very gray area within the army,” a Nahal Brigade soldier said, explaining that the army tries to cover it up by shifting blame to junior soldiers. “It’s something that comes down as an explicit order from the battalion commander level and below. But somewhere at the brigade commander level, they completely deny it. When problems start, they push the responsibility downward and say not to do it.”

So what is the upshot for accountability? Basically none as noted "“Even when [the outcome of] investigations are published, there’s no chance the IDF will admit that this is an official order,” a soldier explained. “But if you ask any combat soldier who fought in Gaza, there’s not a single one who will tell you this doesn’t happen. There’s no battalion, at least in the regular army, that can honestly say it hasn’t used this practice.”

https://www.972mag.com/gaza-human-shield-mosquito/