Exclusive: 90 Days as a Human Shield for Israeli soldiers in Gaza

Jamil Al-Masri, a 63-year-old hospital employee, was taken hostage by Israeli soldiers in October, 2024. For three months, he was starved, abused, and used as a human shield. He tells his story.

The first time that Israeli soldiers forced Jamil Al-Masri to search a house for booby traps and explosives, he protested.

“You want me to die in there or be blown up?”

“Obviously,” he recalled the soldiers telling him. “Why do think we brought you? For us to die?”

Al-Masri was taken as a human shield after having fled bombardment and displacement in the northern Gaza village of Beit Hanoun for the third time when they encountered an Israeli checkpoint. When he was detained, he thought he would be searched and released to continue the arduous journey south.

However, as soon as the soldiers had allowed him to leave, he was again taken aside, handcuffed, blindfolded and put into a tank.

For the next three months, Al-Masri was a slave of groups of Israeli soldiers young enough to be his grandsons. He was starved, humiliated and abused. He was forced into houses and tunnels, and constantly feared death.

An image of Al-Masri was posted to social media by journalist Younis Tirawi.

The practice of using human shields is widespread in the Israeli military.

Al-Masri recalled seeing several groups of young men who would be forced the enter tunnels with cameras attached to their head.

The Associated Press reported that “orders often came from the top, and at times nearly every platoon used a Palestinian to clear locations.”