Editing Human shield (section)

=== 20th century ===
[[File:The Barricade by George Wesley Bellows - BMA.jpg|thumb|''The Barricade'' by the American artist [[George Bellows]], inspired by an incident in August 1914 where German soldiers used [[Rape of Belgium|Belgian civilians as human shields]] ]]

==== World War I ====
Article 23 of the [[Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907|1907 Hague Convention]] (IV) states that "A belligerent is forbidden to compel the nationals of the hostile party to take part in the operations of war directed against their own country".<ref>[http://www.minbuza.nl/en/key-topics/treaties/search-the-treaty-database/1907/10/003319.html Convention respecting the laws and customs of war on land (1907): Parties] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140228212724/http://www.minbuza.nl/en/key-topics/treaties/search-the-treaty-database/1907/10/003319.html |date=February 28, 2014}}.</ref> The 1915 report says "If it be not permissible to compel a man to fire on his fellow citizens, neither can he be forced to protect the enemy and to serve as a living screen".<ref>{{cite report|title=Reports on the Violation of the Rights of Nations and of the Laws and Customs of War in Belgium|date=1915|publisher=London: Harrison and Sons}}</ref>

==== Italian invasion of Ethiopia ====
During the [[Second Italo-Ethiopian War]], the army of [[Fascist Italy (1922–1943)|Fascist Italy]] systematically bombed medical facilities in Ethiopia operated by various Red Cross societies. Italy accused Ethiopia of using hospitals to hide weapons and fighters.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Between Sovereignty and Race: The Bombardment of Hospitals in the Italo-Ethiopian War and the Colonial Imprint of International Law |journal=State Crime Journal |date=2019 |volume=8 |pages=104–125 |doi=10.13169/statecrime.8.1.0104 |jstor=10.13169/statecrime.8.1.0104 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.13169/statecrime.8.1.0104 |last1=Perugini |first1=Nicola |last2=Gordon |first2=Neve |s2cid=182759859 |hdl=20.500.11820/09cc2a58-72ab-49b1-bb5b-ae5fecd80b3c |hdl-access=free  | issn = 2046-6056}}</ref>

==== 1936–1939 Arab revolt in Palestine ====
In the [[Mandatory Palestine|British mandate of Palestine]], Arab civilians and rebels who were captured by the British during the [[1936–1939 Arab revolt in Palestine|Great Arab Revolt]] were frequently taken and placed on "pony trucks", "on which hostages could be made to sit"; these were placed at the front of trains to deter other rebels from detonating explosives on the railways.<ref name="Gordon Perugini" />{{rp|198–199}}<ref>[[Eugene Rogan]], [https://books.google.com/books?id=16U0mEbf4nAC&pg=PT255  ''The Arabs: A History''], 2012 p.255.</ref><ref>Charles Anderson, [https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/C0A6393722B3B92BEB55382B27ED6467/S0010417521000219a.pdf/when-palestinians-became-human-shields-counterinsurgency-racialization-and-the-great-revolt-19361939.pdf 'When Palestinians Became Human Shields: Counterinsurgency, Racialization, and the Great Revolt (1936–1939),'] [[Comparative Studies in Society and History]] 2021, vol. 63 issue 3 625–654.</ref> A soldier with the [[Manchester Regiment]] described the technique:
<blockquote>They would "go down to Acre jail and borrow say five rebels, three rebels, and you'd sit them on the bonnet, so the guy up in the hill could see an Arab on the truck so he wouldn't blow it... If [the rebel] was unlucky the truck coming up behind would hit him. But nobody bothered to pick the bits up. They were left."<ref name="Apology" >[https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-63145992'UK apology sought for British war crimes in Palestine,']{{Dead link|date=November 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} [[BBC News]] 7 September 2022.</ref></blockquote>

The practice began on 24 September 1936 when Brigadier [[John Fullerton Evetts|J. F. Evetts]] reacted to Palestinian rebel attacks against British positions in [[Nablus]] by forcing the city mayor, [[Suleiman Tuqan|Suleiman Abdul Razzaq Tuqan]], to sit exposed on the roof of a garrison building under fire, as a 'high-value human shield'. Tuqan returned his [[Order of the British Empire]] commendation in protest.<ref>Anderson, 2021 p.625</ref>

==== World War II ====
On 14 August 1937, in what would become the first major battle of [[World War&nbsp;II]] in Asia between [[Republic of China (1912–1949)|China]] and the occupying forces of the [[Empire of Japan]] at the [[Battle of Shanghai]], the [[Imperial Japanese Navy]] berthed their flagship ''[[Japanese cruiser Izumo|Izumo]]'' in front of the [[Shanghai International Settlement]]; it is believed in what would become known as "Black Saturday", [[Republic of China Air Force|Chinese Air Force]] [[Northrop Gamma|Gamma 2E bomber]] pilots targeted the Japanese warship, but had to release the bombs at a much lower altitude than they usually trained for due to low cloud ceiling, and did not properly reset their bomb sights, which resulted in two of the 1,100&nbsp;lb bombs falling short and landing on the adjacent International Settlement (one failing to explode) and killing at least 950 Chinese civilians, foreigners and refugees.<ref>{{cite web|title=Shanghai 1937 – Where World War II Began|url=http://www.shanghai1937.tv/|access-date=2021-06-08|language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Bergin|first=Bob|date=2017-08-22|title=High Aviation Ideals|url=https://www.historynet.com/high-aviation-ideals.htm|access-date=2021-06-08|website=HistoryNet|language=en-US |df=mdy-all}}</ref>

After World War II, it was claimed by [[Schutzstaffel|SS]] general [[Gottlob Berger]] that there was a plan, proposed by the [[Luftwaffe]] and approved by [[Adolf Hitler]], to set up special [[POW camp]]s for captured [[airmen]] of the [[Royal Air Force]] and the [[United States Army Air Forces]] in large German cities, to act as human shields against their [[bombing raid]]s. Berger realized that this would contravene the [[Geneva Convention on Prisoners of War (1929)|1929 Geneva Convention]] and argued that there was not enough barbed wire—as a result, this plan was not implemented.<ref>Berger statement to Allied intelligence officers, Nuremberg, October 19, 1945.</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.penguin.co.uk/nf/Book/BookDisplay/0,,9780141003887,00.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080303143036/http://www.penguin.co.uk/nf/Book/BookDisplay/0,,9780141003887,00.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=March 3, 2008 |title=The Last Escape |work=Penguin Books UK |access-date=April 1, 2015}}</ref>

[[Wehrmacht]] and later SS forces extensively used Polish civilians as human shields during [[Warsaw Uprising]] when attacking the insurgents' positions.<ref>{{in lang|pl}} Adam Borkiewicz: Powstanie warszawskie. Zarys działań natury wojskowej. Warszawa: Instytut wydawniczy PAX, 1969, p.&nbsp;99</ref><ref>Antoni Przygoński: Powstanie warszawskie w sierpniu 1944 r. T. I. Warszawa: PWN, 1980, p. 242. {{ISBN|83-01-00293-X}}.</ref> In the [[Wola massacre]] in Poland on 7 August 1944, the Nazis forced civilian women onto the armored vehicles as human shields to enhance their effectiveness.{{cn|date=October 2023}}

In Belgium in May 1940, at least 86 civilians were killed by the German [[Wehrmacht]] in an event known as the [[Vinkt Massacre]], when the Germans took 140 civilians and used them as shields to cross a bridge while under fire by Belgian forces. As the battle progressed, German soldiers began executing hostages.{{cn|date=October 2023}}

During the [[Battle of Okinawa]] and the [[Battle of Manila (1945)|Battle of Manila]], Japanese soldiers often used civilians as human shields against American troops.{{cn|date=October 2023}}

When the Japanese were concerned about the incoming Allied air raids on their home islands as they were losing their controlled Pacific islands one by one to the [[Allies of World War II|Allies]] in the [[Pacific War]], they scattered major [[military installations]] and [[factory|factories]] throughout [[urban area]]s. Historians argued that this meant Japan was using its civilians as human shields to protect their [[legitimate military target]]s against Allied [[bombardment]]. As a result, the [[United States Army Air Forces|U.S. Army Air Forces]] (USAAF) was unable to strike purely military targets due to the limitations of their [[bombsight]], the mixing of military installations and factories with urban areas, and the widespread [[Putting-out system|cottage industry]] in Japan's cities. This led the USAAF in early 1945 to switch from [[precision bombing]] to [[carpet bombing]], which destroyed [[Air raids on Japan|67 Japanese cities]] with [[Incendiary device|incendiary bombs]], and ultimately led to the use of [[Nuclear weapon|atomic bombs]] on the Japanese cities of [[Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki|Hiroshima and Nagasaki]].<ref>{{cite book |page=26 |title=Rockets from Gaza: Harm to Civilians from Palestinian Armed Groups' Rocket Attacks |author=Bill Van Esveld |publisher=[[Human Rights Watch]] |date=August 17, 2009 |isbn=978-1-56432-523-5}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |page=[https://archive.org/details/libraryofcongres0000wagn/page/335 335] |title=The Library of Congress World War II Companion |author=Library of Congress |publisher=[[Simon & Schuster]] |date=October 2, 2007 |isbn=978-0-7432-5219-5 |author-link=Library of Congress |url=https://archive.org/details/libraryofcongres0000wagn/page/335}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |page=817 |title=History of World War II: Victory and Aftermath |publisher=[[Marshall Cavendish Corporation]] |year=2005 |isbn=0-7614-7482-X |url=https://archive.org/details/historyofworldwa0002unse |url-access=registration}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |page=72 |title=The Law of Air Warfare – Contemporary Issues |publisher=Eleven International Publishing |year=2006 |isbn=90-77596-14-3}}</ref>

==== Algerian War ====
In 1960s [[Algeria]], during the [[Algerian War]], [[France]] used civilians as hostages and human shields in its fight against the [[National Liberation Army (Algeria)|National Liberation Army]].<ref>[https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20191105-algeria-renewed-calls-for-france-to-recognize-colonial-crimes/ "Algeria: Renewed calls for France to recognize colonial crimes"]. ''Middle East Monitor''. November 5, 2019.</ref>

==== Iraqi–Kurdish conflict ====
In 1963, a [[Ba'ath Party|Ba'athist]] tank unit in [[Kirkuk]] covered its assault on a [[Kurds|Kurdish]] suburb with a human shield of Kurdish women and children.<ref>Herbert David Croly: "The New Republic", Vol. 203, 1990, [https://books.google.com/books?id=2oSJAFNjJMUC&q=%22human+shield%C2%A0of+Kurdish+women+and+children%22 p. 15]</ref>

==== Korean War ====
In the [[Battle of the Notch]], North Korean forces were claimed to have used captured U.S. soldiers as human shields while advancing.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Appleman |first1=Roy E. |title=South to the Naktong, North to the Yalu: United States Army in the Korean War |date=1998 |publisher=Department of the Army |isbn=978-0-16-001918-0 |page=240 |url=http://www.history.army.mil/books/korea/20-2-1/toc.htm |access-date=October 17, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131102112322/http://www.history.army.mil/books/korea/20-2-1/toc.htm |archive-date=November 2, 2013 |url-status=dead |df=mdy-all}}</ref>

==== Lebanese Civil War ====
In August 1976, at the [[Siege of Tel al-Zaatar]], Christian Lebanese militias alleged that the Palestinians at Tel al-Zaatar were using Lebanese families inside the camp as human shields.<ref>"Over 1,000 Flee Beirut Refugee Camp Under Fire". Associated Press, Beirut, Lebanon. ''Clarion-Ledger'' from Jackson, Mississippi, page 14, August 9, 1976.</ref>

==== 1982 Lebanon War ====
During the [[1982 Lebanon War]], the Palestinian refugee camp of [[Ain al-Hilweh]] was surrounded by Israeli forces as the last stronghold of Palestinian militants in southern Lebanon, but "Soldiers of Allah" militants commanded by the Muslim fundamentalist Haj Ibrahim refused to surrender: Their motto was "Victory or death!" Over a two-day period, Israeli forces under the leadership of Brigadier General [[Yitzhak Mordechai]] repeatedly announced "Whoever does not bear arms will not be harmed" and urged civilians in the camp to evacuate, but few did. Three delegations of prominent [[Sidon]] figures were sent to persuade Haj Ibrahim's fighters that "their cause was hopeless, and whoever was willing to lay down his arms would be allowed to leave the camp unharmed." None of the delegations were successful; the first was prevented from approaching the fighters by "a spray of bullets", while the third "returned with the most harrowing tale of all": "Militiamen were shooting civilians who tried to escape. In one particularly grisly incident, three children were shot because their father had suggested calling an end to the fighting." After a delegation of Palestinian [[Prisoner of war|POWs]], "headed by a [[Palestine Liberation Organization|PLO]] officer who was prepared to give the defenders his professional assessment of Ein Hilweh's grave military situation", and an offer by Mordechai to "meet personally with" Haj Ibrahim were also rebuffed, "a team of psychologists&nbsp;... was flown to Sidon to advise the command on how to deal with such irrational behavior." However, "the best advice the psychologists could offer was to organize yet another but considerably larger delegation comprising some forty or so people and including women and children"; Haj Ibrahim responded to the fifth delegation with "exactly the same three words"; triggering a bloody battle in which Israeli troops finally took the camp.<ref>{{cite book|author-link1=Ze'ev Schiff|last1=Schiff|first1=Ze'ev|author-link2=Ehud Yaari|last2=Ya'ari|first2=Ehud|title=Israel's Lebanon War|publisher=Simon and Schuster|year=1984|isbn=0-671-47991-1|pages=[https://archive.org/details/israelslebanonwa0000schi/page/144 144–150]|url=https://archive.org/details/israelslebanonwa0000schi/page/144}}</ref>

According to 1982 [[Newsweek]] photo, Israeli soldiers were attacked by [[PLO]] fighters disguised as hospital patients.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=SvudKjsiDxAC&dq=Were+attacked+by+PLO+fighters+disguised+as+hospital+patients&pg=PA131 United States Policy Toward Lebanon-relief and Rehabilitation Assistance... By United States. Congress. House. Committee on Foreign Affairs. 1983. United States Congress. House Committee on Foreign Affairs] "Israel has found in Lebanon enough PLO weapons to equip a massive army and to supply untold numbers of terrorist cadres&nbsp;... First, the PLO consciously attacked only civilians and, secondly, the PLO used civilians as human shields to protect itself. Anyone who has been to the small country of Israel knows that there are many military targets to be easily found&nbsp;... Yet, the PLO could only find those 'military' targets disguised as kibbutz nurseries, school buses, marketplaces or passenger airplanes. And the second factor that differentiates the PLO terrorist army from conventional armies is its hiding in the midst of civilian locations. Israeli troops uncovered PLO arsenals, emplacements and bases in schools, mosques, and apartment basements. According to ''Newsweek'', June 14, Israeli soldiers in one engagement, were attacked by PLO fighters disguised as hospital patients."</ref>

==== Bangladesh ====
During the [[Chittagong Hill Tracts conflict]] in the 1970s, an account{{by whom|date=September 2021}} tells that throughout the conflict, the military burned the homes of the [[Jumma people|Jummas]], carried out mass killings and rape of Jumma women, and placed [[Bengalis|Bengali]] settlers as human shields on the land of the Jummas near the military camps.<ref>Hana S. Ahmed:  [https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/129546141.pdf "Tourism and state violence in the Chittagong Hill Tracts of Bangladesh"]. August 29, 2017.</ref>{{full citation needed|date=September 2021}}

==== Iraq under Saddam Hussein ====
[[Saddam Hussein]] systematically used human shields in [[Iraq]].<ref>James R. Arnold (2008). [https://books.google.com/books?id=6T1s4t65qvQC&pg=PA76 ''Saddam Hussein's Iraq'']. p. 76</ref> According to a CIA report, he used the tactics at least since 1988.<ref>[https://fas.org/irp/cia/product/iraq_human_shields/index.html "Putting Noncombatants at Risk: Saddam's Use of 'Human Shields{{'"}}],. Central Intelligence Agency. February 26, 2003. "Over the past 15 years, Iraqi President Saddam Husayn has employed several variations of a 'human shields' tactic&nbsp;..."</ref>

===== Gulf War =====
One of the most well-known uses of human shields occurred in [[History of Iraq under Ba'athist rule|Iraq]] in 1990, following the [[Invasion of Kuwait|Iraqi invasion]] of [[Kuwait]] that precipitated the [[Gulf War|Gulf War of 1990–1991]]. [[Saddam Hussein]]'s government detained hundreds of citizens of [[Western world|Western]] countries who were in Iraq for use as human shields in an attempt to deter nations from participating in military operations against the country. A number of these [[hostage]]s were filmed meeting Hussein, and kept with him to deter any targeted attacks, whilst others were held in or near military and industrial targets.<ref name="BBCOTD">BBC News. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/august/23/newsid_2512000/2512289.stm "1990: Outrage at Iraqi TV hostage show"]. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080201022736/http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/august/23/newsid_2512000/2512289.stm |date=February 1, 2008}}. Retrieved September 2, 2007.</ref> He used both Westerners and Iraqi civilians.<ref>Jan Goldman (2014). [https://books.google.com/books?id=bjeaBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA174 ''War on Terror Encyclopedia: From the Rise of Al-Qaeda to 9/11 and Beyond'']. ABC Clio. p.174</ref>

In 1991, during the operations in the Gulf War, the U.S. submitted a report to the [[UN Security Council]] denouncing Iraq for having "intentionally placed civilians at risk through its behavior". The report cited the following examples of such behavior:
* The Iraqi government moved significant amounts of military weapons and equipment into civilian areas with the deliberate purpose of using innocent civilians and their homes as shields against attacks on legitimate military targets.
* Iraqi fighter and bomber aircraft were dispersed into villages near the military airfields where they were parked between civilian houses and even placed immediately adjacent to important archaeological sites and historic treasures.
* Coalition aircraft were fired upon by anti-aircraft weapons in residential neighborhoods in various cities. In Baghdad, anti-aircraft sites were located on hotel roofs.
* In one case, military engineering equipment used to traverse rivers, including mobile bridge sections, was located in several villages near an important crossing point. The Iraqis parked each vehicle adjacent to a civilian house.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.icrc.org/customary-ihl/eng/docs/v2_cou_us_rule23 |title=United States of America Practice Relating to Rule 23. Location of Military Objectives outside Densely Populated Areas |publisher=[[International Committee of the Red Cross]] |access-date=2013-10-05 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131012072427/http://www.icrc.org/customary-ihl/eng/docs/v2_cou_us_rule23 |archive-date=2013-10-12 |url-status=live |df=mdy-all}}</ref>

==== Al-Qaeda ====
In the aftermath of the [[1998 United States embassy bombings]], [[Osama bin Laden]] stressed that he would have committed the attacks even if his own children were being used as human shields.<ref>{{cite book |page=368 |title=bin Laden: The Man Who Declared War on America |author=Yossef Bodansky |publisher=Crown Publishing Group |date=2011 |isbn=9780307797728 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vur8xnVanEUC&pg=PA368}}</ref>

==== Bosnian War ====
Shortly after the cease-fire between Croat and Serb forces, the [[Army of Republika Srpska]] launched an assault against the safe area of [[Goražde]], heavily shelling the town and surrounding villages. Protests and exhortations from the [[UN Security Council]] were ineffective, and on 10 and 11 April 1994, [[NATO]] launched air strikes against Bosnian Serb positions. In retaliation, Bosnian Serb forces captured UN personnel within their areas of operation and used them as human shields at sites expected to be bombed.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Human Shields by Neve Gordon, Nicola Perugini - Hardcover |url=https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520301849/human-shields |access-date=2025-03-16 |website=University of California Press |language=en}}</ref> In a similar situation to what had happened in [[Sarajevo]], an [[ultimatum]] was issued, and by the 24th, most of the Serb troops had complied.