According to a paper published by NATO Strategic Communications Centre of Excellence, the strategic use of human shields by groups like Hamas hinges on exploiting Israel’s aim to minimize civilian casualties and the sensitivity of Western public opinion. This tactic allows Hamas to either accuse Israel of war crimes if civilian casualties occur or to protect its assets and continue operations if the IDF limits its military response. This approach is an example of ‘lawfare’, using legal and public platforms to challenge an adversary.[6][7] Israel has said that Hamas’s actions have been responsible for civilian casualties in Gaza,[8][9] Human rights groups have said that even if Hamas were using human shields, Israel must still abide by international law to protect civilians.[10][11]

Amnesty International investigated claims made by Israel in the 2008–2009 Gaza War and the 2014 Gaza War that Hamas employed human shields, but found no evidence of such usage. In their report on the 2008-2009 war, Amnesty said that “contrary to repeated allegations by Israeli officials” that it had found no evidence of Hamas directing civilians to shield military assets or that it had forced civilians to remain in or near buildings used by fighters. Amnesty found that Hamas has launched rockets from near civilian locations, which it said endangered civilians and amounted to a violation of the requirement that Hamas take all necessary precautions to protect civilians from military action, but that this does not constitute shielding under international law.[12] In 2014, Amnesty said, regarding repeated allegations by Israel of Hamas using civilians as human shields, that it “does not have evidence at this point that Palestinian civilians have been intentionally used by Hamas or Palestinian armed groups during the current hostilities to ‘shield’ specific locations or military personnel or equipment from Israeli attacks.” They also said that Hamas urging residents to ignore Israeli warnings to evacuate “are not the same as directing specific civilians to remain in their homes as ‘human shields’ for fighters, munitions, or military equipment.”[10] Human Rights Watch also said they found no evidence that Hamas had used human shields in the 2009 conflict.[13] In 2023, HRW stated “Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups need to take all feasible precautions to protect civilians under their control from the effects of attacks and not use civilians as ‘human shields.’”[14]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Use_of_human_shields_by_Hamas#cite_note-HRW2023-14

Understand some people are squeamish about using wiki as a source, but they have cited all of their sources and we can track them back to the originals if you like.