Palestinian Baha Abu Ras, who was used as a human shield by Israeli troops during a raid, shows a video of the incident on his mobile phone, in the town of Dura near the city of al-Khalil (Hebron) in the southern part of the occupied West Bank on January 15, 2024. (Photo by Reuters)

Ramallah, January 17 (RHC)-- Amid escalated Israeli attacks across the West Bank, a Palestinian shop owner says Israeli forces used him as a human shield during a raid on a town in the southern part of the occupied territory.

Mobile phone shop owner Baha Abu Ras provided the information to Reuters on Monday.  He gave the agency video footage of three Israeli troopers forcing him to walk in front of them at gunpoint during a raid on the town of Dura near the city of al-Khalil (Hebron).

"He (the first trooper) told me that he will use me as a human shield...," Abu Ras said, adding that the trooper then ordered him: "You will walk in front of me.'"

"That's what happened and he took me toward the center of the town," the Palestinian noted.

Abu Ras said he had been taken from his shop earlier in the day after Israeli forces searched the premises during the attack on the town, in which two Palestinians were shot dead.  The Israeli military said the forces used live fire during the attack to disperse around 100 Palestinians, who had allegedly pelted them with rocks and firebombs.

The occupying regime has escalated its violent swoops across the West Bank since October 7 when it started a brutal military onslaught against the besieged Gaza Strip following Operation al-Aqsa Storm by the coastal sliver's resistance movements.

Including Monday's fatalities, around 350 Palestinians have been killed across the occupied territory as a result of the escalation.

On the other hand, the regime's genocidal war on Gaza has so far killed more than 24,280 Palestinians, most of them women and children, and left over 60,000 others injured.