Local Editor

"Israeli" army soldiers have constantly used Palestinians, including children, as human shields during their invasions, wars and attacks. This became a "phenomenon" especially during the "Israeli" onslaught on the Gaza Strip in 2008.

Since April 2004, DCI-Palestine has documented 16 cases involving Palestinian children being used as human shields by the "Israeli" army.

In the latest case documented by DCI-Palestine, a 13-year-old boy from a village near Nablus, in the occupied West Bank, was beaten and then forced at gunpoint to search and open doors in a house where the army suspected a wanted person might be hiding.

The practice of using human shields involves forcing civilians to directly assist in military operations or using them to shield an area or troops from attack. Both of these circumstances expose civilians to physical, and sometimes, mortal danger.

Civilians are usually threatened and/or physically coerced into performing these tasks, most of the time at gunpoint. The practice is illegal under both international and "Israeli" domestic law.