Israel has repeatedly claimed without evidence that Hamas endangers civilians by hiding behind human shields. It turns out, however, that Israel has systematically used Palestinians as human shields in violation of both international and Israeli law. In what is being called the "mosquito procedure," Israeli soldiers are "ordered by senior officers to grab Palestinians next to them and to use them as human shields," explains Breaking the Silence's executive director, Nadav Weiman. "Dehumanization of Palestinians in Israel [has] become something so common that it also leads to these kind[s] of practices inside the IDF."