In the ruins of Gaza’s dense urban landscape, a chilling practice has emerged, one that not only endangers innocent Palestinian lives, but also constitutes a major violation of international humanitarian law.
Dubbed the “Mosquito Protocol” by Israeli soldiers, this tactic involves forcibly using Palestinian civilians to search booby-trapped houses and uncover Hamas tunnels ahead of Israeli troops and forces on the ground.
What characterises the horror of this practice is not just its cruelty, but the fact that it has been reportedly sanctioned by high-ranking Israeli officers and institutionalised by the leadership of the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF). This makes it state policy, even if not officially adopted.
According to a months-long investigation by the Associated Press (AP), beginning as early as January 2024 IOF commanders ordered soldiers to compel Palestinian civilians, including men, and at times even teenagers, the elderly and women, to enter homes and tunnels suspected of being booby-trapped with explosives or harbouring armed fighters.
In many cases, civilians were handed military gear and ordered to knock on doors, shout inside buildings, or physically search underground tunnels.
This practice was institutionalised under the euphemism of “mosquitoing,” likening Palestinian civilians to insects sent to test whether a location is dangerous. If the civilians are hurt, the IO5 JuneF unit avoids the area. The AP report includes testimonies from Israeli soldiers who confirmed that the orders to use civilians in this way had come “directly from above,” including from brigadier generals and senior field commanders, suggesting the existence of an official or semi-official directive.
The use of civilians in this manner directly violates several key principles of international humanitarian law, beginning with the Geneva Conventions.
According to Article 28 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, “the presence of a protected person may not be used to render certain points or areas immune from military operations.” According to Article 51(7) of Additional Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions, “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.”
Under the Rome Statute that set up the International Criminal Court (ICC), such actions may qualify as war crimes. Article 8(2)(b)(xxiii) forbids “utilising the presence of a civilian or other protected person to render certain points, areas, or military forces immune from military operations.”
The deliberate conscription of civilians into hostile operations, not as voluntary participants but as coerced tools, violates the fundamental distinction between combatants and civilians in times of war and the principle of proportionality. Civilians must never be used as tactical instruments in warfare, let alone as physical shields for military personnel.
The law of war prevents the use of enemy captive soldiers in this way as well as the civilian population.
ORDERS FROM THE TOP: While the IOF maintains that its policies prohibit the use of civilians in military operations, the evidence increasingly suggests that the “Mosquito Protocol” is not isolated.
The practice has reportedly been implemented across multiple brigades and regions, with high-level officers instructing soldiers to carry out such operations repeatedly. Some former soldiers, speaking to Breaking the Silence, a watchdog group of Israeli military veterans, stated that they were trained to use this method and saw it normalised during their deployment.
IOF commanders, according to testimonies, would even rotate civilians between units, sometimes using them for days. In several cases, civilians were beaten or threatened with death if they refused to cooperate. At least two Palestinians were reportedly killed while performing these forced duties. Tens more may have experienced similar mistreatment, but their stories have not yet been uncovered.
The systemic nature of the practice raises serious concerns about command responsibility, a doctrine in international law that holds military leaders accountable for war crimes committed by subordinates if they knew, or should have known, about them and failed to act. Military leaders must actively prevent war crimes from being committed, and they must be held responsible for their acts if they could have acted differently.
Beyond its legal implications, the “Mosquito Protocol” represents a deep moral collapse in the IOF. It shows a willingness to instrumentalise human life, to reduce civilians, already under siege, to disposable tools in a military playbook. For the Palestinian population, it is yet another brutal reminder that their safety, dignity, and rights are considered expendable in the eyes of the Israeli military occupation.
Strategically, the use of this Protocol also risks backfiring. It further fuels animosity, undermines any remaining prospect of dialogue, and solidifies the international perception of Israeli operations in Gaza as both disproportionate and inhumane. It also corrodes the ethical fabric of the Israeli Army itself, placing young soldiers in positions where they are asked to participate in dehumanising acts under orders they feel compelled to obey.
The international community must not remain silent. The deliberate and systematic use of civilians as human shields by any military actor is unacceptable and should not be tolerated. There must be independent investigations, led by impartial international bodies, into the chain of command responsible for these violations including the political chain of command.
The ICC should examine whether these actions meet the threshold of war crimes under its jurisdiction. If the evidence supports this, Israeli commanders, including those at the highest levels, must be held accountable.
The “Mosquito Protocol” is another ugly stain on the conduct of modern warfare and a glaring violation of international humanitarian norms by Israel. Its endorsement by senior Israeli Army officers and the military leadership makes it not just a tactical misjudgement but also a policy of cruelty and lawlessness. Civilians in Gaza and the West Bank have suffered immensely from bombings, displacement, and hunger and now from being used as unwilling scouts in war.
International law exists to place limits on the brutality of armed conflict and to preserve a sliver of humanity amid the violence of war. When those rules are knowingly broken by those in power, the world must respond not with words but with action.
The writer is a professor of international humanitarian law and former regional head of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs for the MENA region.
* A version of this article appears in print in the 5 June, 2025 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly
Short link: