"Hamas uses human shields, so civilian deaths are Hamas's fault."
Their strongest version
Hamas embeds in dense urban areas, has operated near hospitals and schools, and this genuinely complicates targeting.
The response
Two things are true at once. Where fighters operate among civilians, that violates the law — say so plainly. But international law is explicit that the presence of fighters does not strip civilians of protection or release the attacker from proportionality and precaution (Additional Protocol I, Art. 50–51). 'They were near Hamas' is not a legal or moral license for any strike of any size. Demand the case-by-case evidence: for any specific strike, what was the target, what was the anticipated civilian harm, what precautions were taken? Blanket invocation of 'human shields' is designed to skip exactly those questions. And the accusation runs both ways: B'Tselem and Israeli court cases have documented Israeli forces using Palestinians as shields, including the 2024 'mosquito protocol' revelations reported in Israeli media.