To the Editor:

“Civilians as Human Shields? Gaza War Intensifies Debate” (front page, July 24) claims that there is “no evidence that Hamas and other militants force civilians to stay in areas that are under attack,” and therefore justifies questioning whether Hamas uses the strategy of human shields.

However, there is overwhelming evidence that Hamas deliberately puts civilians in harm’s way by infiltrating private homes, hospitals, schools and mosques and uses these civilian structures to execute attacks against Israel via rockets and underground tunnels.

Former President Bill Clinton recently called out Hamas for these violations of international law, saying Hamas has “a strategy designed to force Israel to kill their own [Palestinian] civilians so that the rest of the world will condemn” Israel.

Hamas has taken over sites such as Al-Wafa hospital in Gaza City and United Nations Relief and Works Agency schools and converted them into command centers for war and launching pads for rockets. This is in direct violation of the Geneva Convention, which states, “Under no circumstances shall medical units be used in an attempt to shield military objectives from attack.”