The United States had evidence last year that Israeli officials discussed sending Palestinians into Gaza tunnels that Israeli forces believed might be lined with explosives, two former US officials told Reuters. The material was shared with the White House and reviewed by the intelligence community in the final weeks of President Joe Biden’s administration, the officials said.
International law forbids using civilians as shields in military operations. Israel’s use of Palestinians as human shields in Gaza and the occupied West Bank has been documented repeatedly, and the Reuters account is a rare confirmation that Washington collected its own intelligence on the practice.
The officials, who spoke anonymously because of the sensitivity of the information, did not say whether the Palestinians mentioned were prisoners or civilians. Reuters could not determine whether the Biden administration raised the intelligence with Israeli authorities.
Responding to the report, the Israel Defense Forces said it “prohibits the use of civilians as human shields or coercing them in any way to participate in military operations” and that the Military Police Criminal Investigation Division is probing “suspicions involving Palestinians in military missions.”
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 US State Department spokesperson described the footage as “disturbing” and a clear violation of Israel’s procedures.
Israel was also questioned at the United Nations this week over multiple reports alleging torture of Palestinian detainees, particularly since the Hamas attacks on 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 of Palestinians, including children.
Twenty-eight Israeli officials appeared before a UN committee of 10 experts on torture in Geneva, where the experts asked whether Israel has a law against torture and whether it applies the torture-related agreements it has signed in Gaza and the West Bank. The Israeli delegation replied no to both questions. The committee presented many reports and alleged violations; Israeli representatives denied most accusations and in some cases said soldiers acted in self-defence.
Allegations of torture during Israel’s nearly two-year campaign in Gaza have been recurrent. A leaked video from the Sde Teiman military prison appeared to show Israeli soldiers raping a Palestinian detainee. Dozens of bodies of Palestinian detainees returned to Gaza since the ceasefire have shown signs consistent with torture.
The UN Committee Against Torture will publish a non-binding summary of its findings on the allegations against Israel at the end of November.
