The Israel Defense Forces' (IDF) decision to prohibit the use of Palestinian civilians as "human shields" during military operations is an important step forward toward complying with the requirements of international humanitarian law, Human Rights Watch said today.
Human Rights Watch also urged the IDF to take further action to stop the coerced use of Palestinian civilians during military operations, an issue the IDF said it would "examine," and reiterated its call for a full investigation into allegations of serious law of war violations committed by Israeli forces in Jenin. The Israeli army has taken an important step towards respecting the laws of war," said Hanny Megally, executive director of the Middle East and North Africa division of Human Rights Watch. "But there are many other Israeli army practices that similarly violate international standards and require the same unequivocal and immediate action."
In response to a High Court of Justice petition by seven Israeli and Palestinian human rights groups, the Israeli army decided on May 9 to "immediately issue an unequivocal order" to its soldiers, stating that soldiers "are absolutely forbidden to use civilians of any kind as a means of 'living shield' against gunfire or attacks by the Palestinian side, or as 'hostages.'"
It appears that Hamas an other ME terrorist had learnt their craft that was used by the Zionist terrorists in the 1930 - 1950’s.
If u believe the Israelis they have ceased using human shield fairly recently, about 2002
