Ramallah, September 23, 2024—Israeli forces used Palestinian children as human shields during the siege of Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City in April.
Defense for Children International - Palestine field researchers in Gaza spoke with two Palestinian families who, along with their young children, were forced to walk alongside Israeli tanks as Israeli forces besieged Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City. Israeli forces have regularly used Palestinian children as human shields during the genocide in Gaza, according to documentation collected by DCIP.
On April 18, Israeli forces surrounded the area near Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City with tanks, military bulldozers, and ground forces. The tanks fired toward a building opposite the hospital, where Ahed and Taghrid A. were sheltering with their five children: Tala, 12, Ahmed 11, Yazan eight, and twins Amir and Jude, one. Ahed and Taghrid raised white flags and shouted, “Civilians, civilians!”
"They fired bullets intensely under our feet and above our heads, and the bulldozer came towards us,” Taghrid told DCIP. “It would have crushed us. There was less than a meter between us and its chains." The soldiers beat Taghrid’s husband, Ahed, and forced him to strip, tied him up, and detained him.
"They put me, my mother and my brothers in the middle of the tanks and kept shooting over our heads, while the bulldozer was bulldozing around us,” said 12-year-old Tala. “We were afraid to die. I was calling for my mother who was next to me, but my voice couldn't come out!"
Israeli forces detained the family for over five hours without food or water before they ordered them to move south.
Taghrid recounted the grueling journey: "We went towards the passport compound then headed east to central Gaza. My children couldn't walk, and I was carrying the twins. Tala fell to the ground and fainted from fear." Ahed was eventually released after two days of torture, humiliation, and deprivation of food and water.
The next day, another Palestinian family was terrorized by Israeli forces in the same way during the siege of Al-Shifa Hospital.
Ibrahim, his wife Naima, and their four young children, Layan, nine, Leen, seven, Lama, five, and Talal, two, were displaced in a house adjacent to the Al-Shifa Hospital on Al-Wilada Street when the assault began at around 7:00 a.m. Israeli tanks surrounded the hospital and opened fire on the house where the family was sheltering.
In a desperate attempt to protect her children, Naima raised a white flag and tried to leave the house, shouting, "Civilians, civilians. We have children!"
Despite her pleas, Israeli soldiers continued to fire, forcing her to retreat indoors. Naima repeatedly tried to leave, fearing for her life and her children's. She later recounted, "I was going out terrified, expecting to die at any moment. These were my children, and I had no other choice but to open the door and go out to them, or they would bomb the house…. If my husband had gone out instead of me, they would have killed him immediately."
The soldiers eventually stopped firing and forced the whole family out of the house. The situation quickly escalated as the soldiers pointed their rifles at the children's heads, beat Ibrahim, forced him to strip naked, and arrested him in front of his horrified family.
Israeli soldiers further terrorized the children by kicking them, beating them, and unleashing dogs on them while holding them next to an Israeli tank that continued to fire at the hospital.
For more than four hours, Naima and her children were held in this terrifying situation before Israeli soldiers ordered them to move south. They walked behind the tank until it disappeared into a side street, after which they continued their journey until they reached the city center. Naima decided to stay in Gaza city with her children and wait for Ibrahim's return.
The month before, on March 6, Israeli forces used several Palestinian children as human shields while they waited for humanitarian aid convoys on Al-Rashid Street near the Al-Nabulsi roundabout in Gaza City.
12-year-old Moayad M. was waiting for aid when Israeli tanks surrounded him and a group of other Palestinian children. Israeli soldiers forced them to strip in the bitter cold, assaulted them with rifles, and tied them up with plastic cords next to the tanks amid heavy gunfire that lasted for hours.
"The army told us to walk in front of the tanks and then stop at every building they wanted to search,”Moayad told DCIP. “They put us with the rest of the children in front of the tank for a whole day without food or water. I had not had anything to eat or drink for two days.”
"They put us in an empty yard in the middle of the tanks, poured cold water on us, and unleashed a dog to scare us," 16-year-old Hazem recalled. He and the others were then forced to walk in front of an Israeli military bulldozer on Al-Rashid Street. "There were around 20 naked people. Every now and then they would beat us with batons and force us to sit on top of the sand mounds that the bulldozers had made while they hid behind the sand." Hazem and the others were held from 8:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. before being released.
The use of civilians, especially children, as human shields has emerged as a horrifying tactic, is a clear violation of international law. DCIP has documented several instances where Israeli forces have used children and their families as human shields during military operations in north Gaza. This terrifying and inhumane treatment has left deep psychological and physical scars on those affected, underscoring the grave violations of international law.
The systematic use of children as human shields by Israeli forces in Gaza is not only a violation of international law but also has implications on a child’s psychological and physical well-being. The damage inflicted on these children is immeasurable, with long-term consequences for their health and development.
The use of human shields is a war crime, and those responsible must be held accountable. In the absence of Israel’s willingness to hold the perpetrators to account, it is the responsibility of the international community to ensure that such atrocities are not repeated and that the rights of Palestinian children are protected.
