What does "protecting the human shields" mean in a practical sense? That's clearly a euphemism. Describe what it means in a literal, blow by blow sense. Who are the human shields? What does it mean to protect them? What does it mean to stop protecting them?
It means that Hamas stores and fires rockets, sniper fire, anti-tank fire, and other weapons from hospitals, schools, residential areas, and other civilian infrastructure.
It means that Hamas has children stand guard around rocket launchers. As far back as a decade ago, when this started becoming more and more common, I saved a video of a Hamas rocket fuse failing, killing the children guarding it. That was quite when I started taking more of an interest in what is going on over there.
The human shields are Gazan citizens - many of which are themselves happy to die "for the resistance" thanks to UNRWA education. This I have been told at least twice by Gazans face to face, and dozens of times online. Yes, I know Gazans and I speak with them online in Arabic. I suffer a lot of abuse, I have a thick skin (I laugh that I'm divorced, you can't insult me more than my ex).
There is no euphemism. These are real people risking their lives - and sometimes loosing - to protect military equipment designed to exterminate Jews. That is not a euphemism either - even the Gazans who work in Israel clearly state that all Gazans would happily kill any Jew. Just a few weeks before the October attacks I was having a conversation, pleasant and civil, and the guy tells me "without your weapons the Arabs would trample you" - I was unsure if he was threatening me. Just a few weeks after that they overran the Kibbutz where I until recently worked, and killed over 10% of the population. That is literal, biblical, decimation.
Your desperate bid to respond without actually answering the question is the answer. You're simultaneously trying to justify it without admitting that it happened in the first place.
