An Israeli soldier speaking with CBS News said the IDF has committed war crimes in Gaza. Among other offenses, the soldiers said Palestinians were regularly deployed as human shields.

“We’ve burned down buildings for no reasons, which is violating the international law, of course… And we used human shields as protection,” the unnamed soldier told the outlet. “They were Palestinian. We sent them in first to see if the building was clear and check for booby traps… They were trembling and shaking.”

Since October 7, 2023, the Gaza Health Ministry has recorded over 50,000 Palestinians killed during the Israeli onslaught. More than 15,000 of the dead are children.

Israeli forces have used Palestinians as human shields throughout the operation in the Gaza Strip. However, the dominant narrative in the Western press is that Hamas is responsible for the deaths of most civilians in Gaza, as it is said to use the Palestinian population as human shields.

In August, Haaretz reported that the use of Palestinians as human shields had occurred all over Gaza, with the knowledge of senior officers, up to the Office of the Chief of Staff.

The unnamed IDF soldier added that he and other lower-ranking men expressed concern to their commanders about using civilians as human shields, but the officers ordered the practice to continue. “We talked to our commander, and we asked him to stop doing it,” the soldier explained to CBS, adding that using human shields was official policy.

Multiple Palestinians have been murdered while serving as human shields for the Israeli military. In one case, IDF soldiers strapped a bomb to an 80-year-old man with mobility issues and forced him to inspect a building for eight hours. After he had finished, the soldiers ordered him and his wife to evacuate the area on foot, sending the couple in the direction of another IDF unit, who shot and killed them.

The unnamed IDF soldier told CBS that taking part in war crimes had caused him serious psychological distress. “I’m morally wounded,” said the soldier. “It’s f****d up, you know, to use citizens as your human shield like a dog.”