US urges Israel accountability over Gaza human shields report

By AFP

The United States on Wednesday demanded accountability by Israel after The New York Times reported that the US ally has used Palestinian civilians as human shields in the Gaza war.

The newspaper said that at least 11 squads in five cities in Gaza had coerced Palestinian civilians into tasks such as searching for explosives or scouting inside tunnels, protecting Israeli soldiers from harm.

State Department spokesman Matthew Miller called the report "incredibly disturbing."

"If the facts as presented in that report are true, they're completely unacceptable," he said.

"There can be no justification ever for the use of civilians as human shields. It would be a violation not just of international humanitarian law, but of the IDF's own code of conduct," he said, referring to the Israel Defense Forces.

He noted an IDF investigation but said: "Even more than investigate, if they do find violations, people need to be held accountable, and they need to take steps to ensure that these practices are not repeated."

The New York Times quoted one teenager, then 17, who said that Israeli soldiers took him from his family and forced him to walk handcuffed ahead of them to search for explosives -- before being released without charge.

The United States has repeatedly voiced concern over Israel's actions toward civilians in its year-long offensive in Gaza in response to an unprecedented attack on Israel by Hamas.

Such statements have rarely been accompanied by consequences, although President Joe Biden froze one shipment in the billions of dollars worth of weapons being sent to Israel.

The United States and Israel have repeatedly accused Hamas of placing civilians in the Gaza Strip in harm's way to serve as human shields.