TEHRAN- Israel has committed brutal massacres in the Gaza Strip since declaring war on the Palestinian territory more than nine months ago.

According to the Palestinian Health Ministry, the regime of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has killed over 38,700 Palestinians in Gaza since October 7. Most of the victims are women and children.

Israel has also carried out strikes against hospitals in Gaza and stormed them. 

International law has stipulated that hospitals and health centers are considered protected spaces and attacking them amounts to a war crime. 

The Israeli army has accused Hamas of using hospitals as its command centers and using Palestinian civilians as human shields. However, it has fallen short of providing any evidence to back up such claims. 

On the contrary, there is ample evidence that Israel has used Palestinian civilians as human shields. 

Such a practice is not only considered a grave violation of international humanitarian law and a war crime but also forbidden by Protocol I of the Geneva Conventions. 

Statements by Palestinians and videos prove that Israel has used civilians as human shields. 

Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor  has documented several consistent testimonies regarding the Israeli army’s deliberate use of Palestinian civilians as human shields. The organization said in March that the Israeli army has forced Palestinians into dangerous situations to secure and protect its forces and operations inside the Shifa Medical Complex. 

Al-Shifa Hospital is among the health centers that have been raided by Israel several times. The regime’s troops have committed massacres in the hospital. 

Israeli troops first raided the hospital in November. It is the largest medical facility in the Gaza Strip. 

Middle East Monitor cited Nadeen Abu Aloun, a 23-year-old graduate who studied English, as saying that Israeli troops used her as a human shield in three occasions.

Nadeen said the first time she was used as a human shield was on March 20 during the invasion of Al-Shifa Hospital.

“I was sitting with my siblings and cousins when the occupation army invaded. They savagely stormed our home for no reason, we are ordinary people. They asked me to come with them as I was the only one who spoke English,” she told the UK-based news outlet. 

She added, “While evacuating us, they forced me to walk in front of the soldiers to secure them; they looked terrified.”

Prominent rights groups such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have also found evidence that Israel has used Palestinians as human shields.  

Al Jazeera has also obtained pieces of footage which show Israeli troops forcing Palestinian detainees to search destroyed buildings and tunnels or serve as cover for them. 

Israel has perpetrated such heinous crimes in the occupied West Bank too. 

In June, a video showed Israeli forces in the West Bank had tied a wounded Palestinian man to the hood of a military vehicle during a raid on the city of Jenin, appearing to use him as a human shield.

The United Nations’ special rapporteur to the occupied Palestinian territory lashed out at Israel after its forces strapped Mujahed Azmi, a Palestinian resident of Jenin, to a military jeep. 

Francesca Albanese called the move “human shielding in action”. She added, “It is flabbergasting how a state born 76 years ago has managed to turn international law literally on its head. This risks being the end of multilateralism, which for some influential member states no longer serves any relevant purpose.”

Nonetheless, such Israeli atrocities over the past nine months are just the tip of the iceberg.

The regime has perpetrated despicable and barbarous crimes against Palestinians since its establishment in 1948.

But the resilience of Palestinians since October 7, has brought the regime’s extreme brutalities to the fore. 

Israel stands accused of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Court. 

The regime is also accused of genocide by the International Court of Justice. 

Despite committing war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide, Israel has not been held accountable so far. 

This is because some Western countries, in particular the United States, continue to support Israel despite issuing statements against its genocidal war in Gaza. 

These countries not only feed Israel’s war machine but also embolden it to blatantly violate international law as they have failed to take any action in the face of its barbarism in Gaza.