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School of Law

What is a ‘human shield’ and why is Israel using the term in Gaza?

Professor Neve Gordon spoke to Al Jazeera about what ‘human shield’ means in Gaza.

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A child in Gaza walking around rubble

Image by hosny salah from Pixabay

Neve Gordon, Professor of International Law and Human Rights at Queen Mary University of London and co-author of Human Shields: A History of People in the Line of Fire, and a teacher of international law at Queen Mary University of London, told Al Jazeera that evacuation orders give the warring party that issued it – in this case Israel – the ability to cast families like ElSayed’s and the entire population of northern Gaza as proximate human shields.

“Temporally, proximate shielding can endure far longer than either voluntary or involuntary shielding, because the latter two are restricted to the time during which the civilian acts or is forced into acting as a shield,” Gordon said.

Read the full article on Al Jazeera.

 

 

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