In light of the Israeli military’s attack against the credibility of the soldiers’ testimonies issued by “Breaking the Silence”, B’Tselem has urgently sent the Minister of Defense copies of letters previously sent to the judge advocate general, in which the organization reported grave suspicions that soldiers had used Palestinian civilians as human shields during Operation Cast Lead. The letters were based on testimonies given to B’Tselem by Palestinian residents of the Gaza Strip and were sent two and three weeks ago. To the best of B’Tselem’s knowledge, the army has not opened investigations to examine these suspicions.

The descriptions of events in the testimonies given to B’Tselem are very similar to those given by soldiers to “Breaking the Silence”. The military has refused to open serious, impartial investigations into these events, choosing instead to rely solely on internal debriefings conducted within the involved units as a method for determining the truth. B’Tselem says that in light of this policy, the assault on “Breaking the Silence” and media statements by military officials denying that human shields were used in the operation are disingenuous and unacceptable. In its response, the IDF Spokesperson criticized the anonymity of the soldiers whose testimonies were published by “Breaking the Silence”, yet when B’Tselem sent the army detailed letters including the names of the Palestinian victims, the exact dates and the precise locations of the events, no investigation was opened.

Since the end of Operation Cast Lead, B’Tselem has sent law enforcement authorities 19 separate demands to open investigations into events whose circumstances raise suspicions that the military acted unlawfully during the operation. These demands are based on field research and testimonies given to B’Tselem by Palestinian residents of the Gaza Strip. In total, the letters sent by B’Tselem related to events in which 70 Palestinian civilians were killed, more than half of them minors. Among them were two letters that detailed grave suspicions that the military had used Palestinian civilians as human shields in ‘Ezbet ‘Abd Rabo in north-eastern Gaza, in violation of international humanitarian law and of an explicit ruling by the Israeli High Court of Justice. To date, the only response B’Tselem has received is confirmation that some of the letters have been received.