As part of its genocide in Gaza, the military registered by the UN as a violator of children’s human rights is “systematically” detaining and torturing children, according to Defense for Children International-Palestine (DCIP).

Like adults in Israel’s custody, children told DCIP of how troops beat them bloody; threatened to kill them; humiliated them; deprived them of food; stripped them naked; and sicced dogs on them.

This echoes other reports finding that Israeli troops are, in fact, told by military officials to use Palestinians as human shields — even as Israeli officials spread uncorroborated claims of Hamas forces using civilians as human shields that Israel often uses to justify the killing of thousands of civilians.

A recent investigation by Haaretz found that Israeli units will often dress Palestinians up as Israeli soldiers and make them walk, handcuffed, in front of troops or into tunnels and houses to serve as shields. These Palestinians are specifically selected by Israeli troops for this, presumably so that they can blend in with the Israeli military. Sometimes those who are chosen for this purpose are children.

Military officials as high as the chief of staff are aware of this practice, suggesting that it is not only okay with the military leadership, but condoned. Soldiers are told, the report found, “our lives are more important than their lives.”

Link to the DCIP Article