Leaked files expose U.S. silence on Israel’s alleged war crimes in Gaza

According to reports, the United States collected information last year from Israeli officials who were discussing how the Israeli military was using Palestinian civilians in Gaza as human shields.

As Reuters reports, former U.S. officials familiar with the matter disclosed that this intelligence was shared with the White House and analyzed by the U.S. intelligence community during the final weeks of former President Joe Biden’s administration.

They said the information, gathered in the closing months of 2024, raised questions within both the White House and the U.S. intelligence community about the extent to which this tactic was being employed — and whether Israeli soldiers were acting under formal orders issued by their military leadership.

The two former officials did not specify whether the Palestinians mentioned in the intelligence reports were detainees or ordinary civilians encountered in public areas.

The collection of such evidence by Washington had not been previously reported. Former White House officials under the Biden administration declined to comment, and the CIA also refused to respond to inquiries on the matter.

The Israeli military, in reaction to the report, reiterated its usual claims of compliance with international law and said that it investigates such allegations. The Israeli cabinet declined to answer whether these details had been shared with the United States.

The intelligence regarding Israel’s use of civilians as human shields was among several classified reports circulating within the U.S. government during the closing period of Biden’s presidency. At the time, U.S. intelligence analysts were increasingly examining new streams of data revealing internal Israeli deliberations about its military conduct in Gaza.

Around the same period, the Biden administration had also obtained information indicating that Israeli legal advisers had warned of evidence potentially supporting war crimes charges against Israel for its military operations in Gaza.

Former U.S. officials said the new intelligence sparked deep concern among senior American policymakers, who believed the findings substantiated internal claims that Israeli forces may have committed war crimes.

If Israel were found guilty of war crimes, the United States could face liability for supplying weapons to the Israeli military.

Israel’s use of Palestinians as human shields in Gaza and the occupied West Bank has been documented many times, but the new report marks a rare acknowledgment that Washington itself gathered evidence on the matter.

In May 2025, seven Palestinians who said they had been used as human shields in Gaza and the occupied West Bank gave testimonies published by the Associated Press.

In June 2024, verified footage released by Al Jazeera showed Israeli soldiers tying an injured Palestinian man to the front of a military jeep and driving him past two ambulances during a raid in the West Bank city of Jenin.

At the time, the Israeli military claimed the soldiers involved had violated protocol, while a U.S. State Department spokesperson described the footage as “disturbing” and a “clear violation” of Israel’s stated procedures.

Earlier this week, on Tuesday and Wednesday, Israeli officials were questioned at the United Nations over multiple reports of torture against Palestinian detainees — particularly following the start of Israel’s war on Gaza in October 2023.

UN Special Rapporteur Peter Vodel-Kessing said: “The Committee is deeply horrified by the numerous alternative reports describing what appears to be widespread and systematic torture and mistreatment of Palestinians, including children.”

Twenty-eight Israeli officials appeared before a UN panel of ten experts on torture in Geneva.

When asked whether Israel has a law prohibiting torture, the Israeli delegation responded no.

When asked whether Israel implements the anti-torture agreements it has signed with respect to Gaza and the West Bank, the delegation again responded no.

The UN Committee confronted the Israeli representatives with extensive reports and a long list of violations against Palestinians. The Israeli team in some instances claimed that its soldiers had acted in self-defense.

Israel has repeatedly been accused of using torture during its two-year war on Gaza.

In one case, leaked footage from the notorious Sde Teiman military prison showed Israeli soldiers assaulting a Palestinian detainee.

Additionally, dozens of bodies of Palestinian prisoners returned to Gaza after the ceasefire have shown signs of torture.

The UN Committee Against Torture is expected to publish a non-binding summary of its findings regarding Israel’s alleged violations by the end of November.