U.S. officials had intelligence last year indicating Israeli officials discussed putting Palestinians into Gaza tunnels thought to be booby-trapped, two former U.S. officials told Reuters. That material was shared with the White House and reviewed by the U.S. intelligence community in the final weeks of President Joe Biden’s administration, the officials said.
International law bans using civilians as human shields. Israel’s use of Palestinians as shields in Gaza and the occupied West Bank has been documented in multiple reports, and the Reuters account is an uncommon confirmation that Washington collected its own intelligence alleging the practice.
The former officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the information is sensitive; they did not specify whether the people named were prisoners or civilians. Reuters could not determine whether the Biden administration raised the intelligence with Israeli authorities.
The Israel Defense Forces responded that it prohibits using civilians as human shields or coercing them to take part in operations, and said its Military Police Criminal Investigation Division is probing suspected cases involving Palestinians.
Independent reporting has produced several related allegations. In May, seven Palestinians who said they had been used as human shields in Gaza and the West Bank gave testimonies published by The Associated Press. In June 2024, Al Jazeera verified video showing Israeli soldiers tying a wounded Palestinian, Mujahed Azmi, to the front of a military jeep and driving him past ambulances during a raid in Jenin; the Israeli military said the soldiers violated protocol and a U.S. State Department spokesperson called the footage “disturbing” and a clear breach of Israel’s procedures.
Separately, Israel faced questioning this week at the United Nations over multiple reports alleging torture of Palestinian detainees, particularly since the Hamas attacks of October 7, 2023. Peter Vedel Kessing, the committee’s rapporteur, said the panel had been “deeply appalled” by numerous reports suggesting systematic and widespread torture and ill-treatment, including of children.
Twenty-eight Israeli officials appeared before a UN committee of 10 experts in Geneva. The experts asked whether Israel has a law against torture and whether it implements the international anti-torture agreements it has signed in Gaza and the West Bank; the Israeli delegation replied no to both questions. The committee reviewed many reports and allegations; Israeli representatives denied most accusations and at times said soldiers acted in self-defense.
Allegations of torture during Israel’s nearly two-year campaign in Gaza have been recurrent. A leaked video from the Sde Teiman military prison was said to show Israeli soldiers raping a Palestinian detainee, and dozens of bodies of Palestinian detainees returned to Gaza since the ceasefire have exhibited signs consistent with torture.
The UN Committee Against Torture plans to publish a non-binding summary of its findings on the allegations against Israel at the end of November.