Context:

• The United States President on October 15  accused the Palestinian militant group Hamas of using innocent Palestinians as human shields.
• Meanwhile, protests rage in the Arab world and beyond, condemning Israel’s forced displacement of Gazans and other Palestinians.

What are human shields?

• The term ‘human shields’ is used in International Humanitarian Law (IHL) with respect to civilians or other protected persons, whose presence or movement is aimed, or used to render military targets immune from military operations.
• Using human shields is considered a war crime and banned as per Rule 97 of the IHL. At the same time, it is also prohibited to attack human shields.

What is forced displacement?

• Ordering the displacement of the civilian population for reasons related to the conflict, unless the security of the civilians involved or imperative military reasons so demand,” constitutes forcible displacement according to Rome statutes.
• The International Committee of the Red Cross and the Norwegian Refugee Council described the order to “forcibly transfer” civilians as unlawful.
• The Israeli military demand that 1.2 million civilians in northern Gaza relocate to its south within 24 hours, without any guarantees of safety or return, would amount to the war crime of forcible transfer.
• The difference between evacuation and forced transfer depended on whether the act would “actually benefit the security of the civilians.”

Source: Indian Express