Israeli soldiers discussed sending Palestinians into tunnels lined with explosives to use as human shields, US officials have claimed.
Intelligence shared with Joe Biden’s White House in the final weeks of his administration showed how the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) was considering sacrificing the Palestinian civilians, two officials told Reuters.
International law prohibits the use of civilians as shields during military activity.
Officials in the Biden administration had long raised concerns about news reports that indicated Israeli soldiers were using Palestinians to potentially protect themselves in Gaza.
Washington’s collection of its own evidence on the subject has not been previously reported.
The US intelligence gathered in the final months of 2024 raised questions inside the White House and the intelligence community about how widely the tactic was being used and whether Israel’s soldiers were acting on guidance issued by military leaders, the US officials said.
The officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, did not provide details on whether the Palestinians referred to in the intelligence were prisoners or civilians.
Israel says Hamas has built a labyrinth of tunnels underneath the Gaza Strip – Noam Galai/Getty Images
Reuters could not determine whether the Biden administration discussed the intelligence with the Israeli government.
Former Biden White House officials did not respond to requests for comment. The CIA did not respond to a request for comment.
In a statement, the IDF said it “prohibits the use of civilians as human shields, or coercing them in any way to participate in military operations”. The Military Police Criminal Investigation Division is investigating “suspicions involving Palestinians in military missions”, the statement said.
The Israeli government did not answer questions about whether it discussed the intelligence with the US.
Media reports have also indicated that Hamas has used civilians as human shields, specifically embedding its militants in civilian structures such as hospitals. The group has denied those accusations.
Hamas-led militants seized 251 hostages in the Oct 7 attacks in 2023 and killed another 1,200 people, according to Israeli tallies. Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed nearly 69,000 Palestinians, health officials in the enclave say.
The intelligence about the IDF’s use of civilians as human shields was one of several pieces that circulated inside the US government during the administration’s late stages. It came as the intelligence community was increasingly analysing new streams of information that revealed internal Israeli deliberations about its military conduct in Gaza.
Reuters reported last week that around that time, the Biden administration had also gathered intelligence that Israeli lawyers warned there was evidence that could support war crimes charges against Israel for its military campaign in Gaza.
The Israeli government did not respond to requests for comment about that story.
Scores of Hamas fighters are believed to be in tunnels – Mohammed Salem/REUTERS
The former US officials said the new intelligence from inside Israel raised serious concern among top officials who believed the information supported allegations from some inside the US government that Israel was committing war crimes. If Israel were found guilty of war crimes, the US could be held liable for providing weapons to the IDF. It would also likely force the US to stop sharing intelligence with Israel.
Lawyers from across several US agencies determined in the final weeks of the Biden administration, however, that the evidence did not show that Israel had committed war crimes and that the US could continue supporting Israel with weapons and intelligence.
Some former US officials said the broad set of intelligence received late in the Biden administration described only individual incidents in Gaza and did not represent overarching Israeli practice or policy.
