UN Official Denounces Use of ‘Human Shields’

Seldom does a UN official denounce Hamas for the way it fights its war, so that when it happens, it ought to be carefully noted in the media. But that isn’t what happens. Instead, the mainstream media either downplay, or leave out altogether, any denunciation of Hamas by UN officials. On September 10, the UN’s Tor Wennesland, the UN’s Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, delivered a statement, critical of Israel for the IDF’s bombing of a Hamas command and control center that was embedded in a humanitarian zone in Khan Younis. Amazingly, however, Wennesland also stated that Hamas must stop using human shields. It was a rare case of an attempt at “balance” by a UN official. More on his statement can be found here: “A UN official said Hamas must stop using human shields. International media ignores it.” Elder of Ziyon, September 11, 2024:

UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Tor Wennesland, issued a statement condemning the IDF  airstrike in Khan Younis yesterday condemning Israel for hitting a civilian area. But his statement was unusually balanced for a UN official:

While the IDF said it struck Hamas militants who were operating in a command-and-control center embedded inside the Humanitarian zone, I underline that international humanitarian law, including the principles of distinction, proportionality, and precautions in attack, must be upheld at all times. I also emphasize that civilians must never be used as human shields.

Yet again, such actions only underscore that nowhere is safe in Gaza.

Wennesland appears to have added the statement about human shields to appear even handed. His tweet on the statement didn’t mention that part of it.

But Wennesland emphasized that using human shielding is unacceptable and said that was one of the reasons that “nowhere is safe in Gaza.”

And almost no one reported on this part of his statement.

The BBC quoted it without elaborating. So did some non-western media.  But most didn’t even mention that a UN official assigned nearly equal blame to Hamas as to Israel for its part in endangering civilians.

Typical is how the New York Times covered the statement:

Israeli [sic] has long said that Hamas embeds itself among civilians to use them as human shields. International law experts have said Israel still has a responsibility to protect civilians during its military operations. More than 40,000 people have been killed in Gaza in 11 months of war, according to the Gazan Health Ministry, whose figures do not distinguish between civilians and combatants….

Israel has a ”responsibility to protect civilians during its military operations.” And that is exactly what it does, as when it engages in colossal efforts to warn civilians away from areas and buildings about to be targeted. Already by March, the IDF had dropped nine million leaflets, sent fifteen million text messages, and made sixteen million robocalls to warn civilians away from dangerous areas, even supplying maps of where they should go to be in a “safe” area. No wonder that West Point Professor of Urban Warfare Studies, John Spencer, has said that “Israel has done more to prevent civilian casualties in war than any military in history — above & beyond what international law requires.”

The Geneva Conventions says very clearly: “The presence or movements of the civilian population or individual civilians shall not be used to render certain points or areas immune from military operations, in particular in attempts to shield military objectives from attacks or to shield, favour or impede military operations.”…

In other words, according to the Geneva Convention, using human shields to prevent attacks by an enemy on a military objective is inadmissible.

Israel has adhered to the “principle of proportionality.” According to Hamas, a total of 41,000 people have been killed in Gaza; Hamas does not distinguish between civilians and fighters. Of those 41,000, the IDF says 18,000 (as of September 11) were Hamas combatants. In addition, before the war started, about 800 Gazans died each month from natural causes — diseases, accidents, and so on. Assuming that same rate of death during the last 11 months of war, that would mean 8800 Gazans died of natural causes. Let’s do the math: 41,000 dead in Gaza, from which we subtract 18,000 Hamas combatants and 8800 deaths from natural causes, leaves us with a total of 14,200 civilians killed during the war in Gaza.

That brings us to the key ratio of civilian-to-combatant deaths. First, some context. According to the UN, in all the wars fought since 1945, the average ratio of civilian-to-combatant deaths has been 9:1. In Afghanistan, the Americans did better, with a ratio of 4:1, and in Iraq, they managed to attain a ratio of 3:1. But the IDF has achieved a ratio of 14,200: 18,000, which is less than a 1:1 ratio of civilian-to-combatant deaths. It’s an unheard of achievement in the annals of modern warfare. Tor Wennesland might want to look into that before he accuses Israel of violating the “principle of proportionality.”

Tor Wennesland has at least recognized, in a single sentence, the inadmissibility in war of the use of human shields, and he has recognized that Hamas has been doing just that. In fact, their use constitutes the very heart of the terror group’s strategy. Perhaps in a later statement, Tor Wennesland will allow himself to publicly recognize that fact. And the mainstream media might even choose to report it.