Tuesday's discovery of rockets hidden in a vacant U.N. facility is the sort of evidence that Israel cites when it accuses Hamas of using civilians and their institutions as shields in the ongoing Gaza conflict. The rockets were found in a vacant school between two other U.N. schools being used as shelters for 3,000 displaced Palestinians, the United Nations said. It was the second such discovery at a vacant U.N. school in Gaza in a week. As suggestive as those discoveries are, Israel's claims that Hamas uses civilians as human shields are difficult to prove in an active ground conflict, experts say.
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Active conflict makes it impossible to prove use of human shields in Gaza, expert said
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Israel said high civilian death toll is because Hamas uses civilians as shields
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Palestinians say Israel is bombing 'a captive civilian child population'
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'It's the poor innocents that are suffering' retired U.S. general says
Israel
Israel
Israel
Israel
On the @placeholder side, 28 soldiers and two civilians have been killed in the same time frame.
Hamas
Hamas
Hamas
Israel has to have an answer to that: The civilian casualties are so high because of @placeholder, and this is their answer to that."
Hamas
Hamas
Hamas
"The question is that Israel is not discriminating, it is destroying the homes of people who are active (in @placeholder).
Hamas
Hamas
Hamas
"@placeholder is not just an isolated, you know, sort of armed individuals.
Gaza
Gaza
Gaza
The geography and population density of @placeholder further clouds efforts to determine whether civilian casualties are part of Hamas strategy of using human shields or collateral damage from Israel's ground and aerial assaults, Palestinians say.
Gaza
Gaza
Gaza
Fighting in such a confined space as @placeholder means civilian casualties.