WASHINGTON: The United States on Wednesday demanded accountability by Israel after The New York Times reported that it has used Palestinian civilians as human shields in Gaza.

The newspaper said that 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 Defence Forces.

He noted an IDF investigation, but added: “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 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. 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.

Published in Dawn, October 17th, 2024