Video clips showed that the occupation forces took civilians as human shields during their storming of Aqabat Jaber camp in Jericho today, Wednesday.
The pictures showed that the occupation forces arrested a man carrying a child next to a military vehicle around which the occupation soldiers gathered as they entered the camp.
The United Nations Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in the Palestinian Territories, Francesca Albanese, said that she would investigate the incident of the occupation forces using human shields during their storming of Aqabat Jaber camp.
The UN rapporteur confirmed, in an interview with Al-Jazeera, that the use of human shields is a common practice among the occupation forces, stressing that international law criminalizes the use of human shields.
UN rapporteur Francesca Albanese confirmed that the use of human shields is a common practice among the (European) occupation forces.
International law defines human shields as the intentional placement of a group of people, civilians or military personnel, around military targets to "deter the enemy" from attacking them.
The human shield may take other forms, such as putting civilians or hostages in front of advanced forces to prevent the enemy from confronting them.
Storage of weapons and equipment and the stationing of combat military units in areas populated by civilians are also classified under human shields.
International law criminalizes the use of human shields by conflicting parties in conflicts and wars, according to the Geneva Conventions of 1929 and 1949, its Additional Protocol of 1977 and the Rome Treaty of 1998.