Late February, Associated Press Television News captured footage of the incident involving Amira.

The video has prompted the army to launch a rare criminal investigation into whether its soldiers violated a landmark Israeli Supreme Court 2005 ruling barring the use of human shields. Others, including an 11-year-old girl, have been emboldened to come forward with similar accounts of being compelled to walk ahead of soldiers looking for militants.

Jihan Dadoush, 11, said she was watching the news with her family at about 8:30 p.m. when there was a knock on the door. She said the troops questioned her father and older sister before turning to her.

"I was very afraid because the soldiers were screaming at me, so I told them about a house where young men sometimes go," the ponytailed girl said, hesitating and moving about restlessly as she spoke.

About 15 minutes later, she said the troops returned and called her name. They ordered her to come with them, threatening to arrest her and ignoring her father’s pleas to leave her alone, she said.

Jihan said "They made me walk in front of them. There were many soldiers behind me with their weapons and they frightened me," she said, breaking into tears.

In August 2002, a 19-year-old Palestinian student was killed in a gunfight that erupted after he was forced to knock on the door of a building where a Hamas fugitive was hiding.

"When you have to decide between risking your soldiers’ lives or just a Palestinian bystander, the solution ... suddenly becomes much more logical than it sounds," said Avichay Sharon, 25, a former Israeli commando who served from 2000 to 2003.

Sharon belongs to "Breaking the Silence," a group of former soldiers who say army tactics in the West Bank are hurting Israel’s moral character.

"Everyone has done it, seen it, witnessed it," he said.

On the morning of Feb. 25, an AP cameraman noticed a young man dressed in shorts and a T-shirt who appeared out of place on the cold morning.

The cameraman zoomed in and filmed the man, later identified as Amira, leading soldiers through the front door of an apartment.

Initially, the army it said soldiers had found Amira wandering in the streets and escorted him home. After being shown the video, the army said the images "do not appear to indicate any mistreatment" of civilians, but pledged "a thorough inquiry."

Then, on March 15, after the AP video had been aired worldwide and new human shield allegations emerged, the army announced a formal criminal probe in a one-sentence statement released shortly before midnight.

Jessica Montell, executive director of the Israeli human rights group B’Tselem, said such complaints rarely lead to punishments.

Amira said he worked for several years in a nearby Jewish settlement. Since the video aired, he said he has not been able to renew a work permit, and he fears he is being punished by the Israeli authorities.

"I don’t do anything. I hang out, sleep, and walk around. I have nothing to do," he said.

Associated Press writers Ali Daraghmeh in Nablus, West Bank, and Ben Winograd in Jerusalem contributed to this report.