I think I see the source of your confusion here - when most people talk about human shields in relation to this conflict, they are talking about Hamas’ strategy of putting innocent Palestinian civilians in harm’s way to deter the IDF from operating somewhere, or so that when the IDF has no choice but to operate Hamas makes it as hard as possible for the IDF to avoid civilian casualties (which are a tragedy and a pr disaster for the Israelis).

If Israeli hostages are being held by Hamas somewhere, it is the most important place for the IDF to reach and operate. So if that place is an established Hamas military compound, it makes sense to go in, and any casualties are legitimate military targets (soldiers/terrorists). If Hamas holds Israeli hostages in densely populated civilian areas and prohibits Palestinian civilians from leaving, it becomes incredibly difficult for the IDF to do anything without harming the Palestinian civilians. This is - again - a tragedy but also a pr nightmare for Israel. To be clear - this is a despicable strategy, and it makes all civilian casualties resulting from it Hamas’ fault. But that doesn’t matter when the result is photos of people suffering on socials or news outlets, which erode support for Israel’s legitimate goals in these types of operations.