Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor has revealed that Israeli invading forces in Al-Shifa Hospital, west of Gaza, are using displaced civilians and patients as human shields during their military operation into the largest medical complex in Gaza, Al-Shifa Hospital.
The institution has documented several consistent testimonies regarding the Israeli army’s deliberate use of Palestinian civilians as human shields against their will, and forcing them into dangerous situations to secure its forces. This has been ongoing since early Monday morning.
Testimonies from displaced civilians told the Euro-Med Monitor that they were forcibly ordered to enter several rooms with cameras mounted on their heads to only secure and protect the Israeli soldiers. The civilians were compelled to move remotely through commands issued to them towards specific locations.
An elderly man in his sixties stated that the civilians, including his eldest son, were coerced and led as human shields by Israeli soldiers to basements and sewage areas, while many others were placed in armored vehicles. Then, they were compelled to stand behind the soldiers and the military tanks, serving to prevent any potential targeting.
Dozens of men seeking shelter at Al-Shifa Hospital were forcibly stripped of their clothes, and sent under threat to nearby homes to demand evacuation of the residents within 30 minutes, otherwise they and the houses would be bombarded.
A wife of a nurse forced by the Israeli army to evacuate the complex towards the city of Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip, witnessed the Israeli soldiers using her husband as a human shield to open doors to sections in the Shifa Medical Complex for several consecutive hours. She stated that her husband’s fate remains unknown until now.
Documenting such horrific testimonies, Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor expresses its grave concern over what’s happening and calls on the international community to “fulfill its international responsibilities in stopping the genocide being perpetrated against all residents of the Gaza Strip, and to take immediate and serious action to halt all Israeli army crimes committed against civilians and civilian objects protected under international law.”
Shortlink for this post: https://daysofpalestine.ps/?p=52829
