Citing two unnamed US officials familiar with the matter, the report said the intelligence involved Israeli soldiers sending Palestinians into Gaza tunnels rigged with explosives.
The intelligence was relayed to the White House in the final weeks of former president Joe Biden’s administration, though it remains unclear whether Washington confronted the regime in Tel Aviv over the findings.
The use of human shields — forcing civilians to participate in military actions — is explicitly prohibited under international law. Yet the report marks one of the rare instances in which the United States acknowledged having evidence of the Israeli regime’s use of such tactics in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.
In response, the Israeli military dismissed the allegations, asserting that it “prohibits the use of civilians as human shields or coercing them in any way to participate in military operations.”
Despite such denials, footage and eyewitness accounts have repeatedly exposed the regime’s systematic use of Palestinians as protective cover for its soldiers. In June 2024, a video showed Israeli troops tying a wounded Palestinian man to the front of a jeep during an operation — one of many documented cases of abuse.
The practice reflects a wider pattern of brutality by the occupying regime, including mounting evidence of torture and inhumane treatment of Palestinian detainees.
During a United Nations review session on Tuesday and Wednesday, the Israeli delegation faced sharp scrutiny over reports of “systematic and widespread torture” following the October 7, 2023 events.
“The committee has been deeply appalled by the description we have received, in a large number of alternative reports, of what appears to be systematic and widespread torture and ill-treatment of Palestinians, including children,” said Peter Vedel Kessing, rapporteur for the UN Committee Against Torture.
When asked whether Israel had any law banning torture, the regime’s representatives admitted it did not. Pressed further on whether Tel Aviv applied international anti-torture agreements in Gaza or the West Bank, the response was again no.
Israeli officials attempted to justify such actions under the pretext of “self-defense.”
A separate report in May 2024 included testimonies from Palestinians who said they were forced into combat zones as shields during military operations in both Gaza and the West Bank.
The UN Committee Against Torture is expected to issue its non-binding summary on the regime’s treatment of Palestinians by the end of November.