WASHINGTON — The United States temporarily withheld some intelligence from Israel in the second half of 2024 during the war in Gaza, officials familiar with the matter said. The rare step was driven by concerns inside the U.S. intelligence community over civilian casualties and alleged mistreatment of Palestinian detainees and ended after Israel provided new assurances about how U.S.-supplied information would be used, Dec. 13, 2025.
Why US withheld intelligence from Israel
The disclosure that US withheld intelligence from Israel shows Washington using a pressure tool it almost never deploys with a close ally in wartime: limiting access to the most sensitive support until new assurances are in place.
U.S. officials cut off a live video feed from a U.S. drone over Gaza for at least several days — a feed Israel had used to help search for hostages and track Hamas militants — according to a Reuters report. Officials also tightened how certain intelligence could be used in efforts to identify and strike “high-value” targets, the report said.
US withheld intelligence from Israel as a tactical pause meant to reinforce assurances tied to the law of war; Reuters said it could not determine whether then-President Joe Biden knew about the temporary holdbacks.
What was paused — and what wasn’t
Paused: A live U.S. drone video feed over Gaza.
Conditioned: Some targeting-related intelligence.
Israel’s military press office said “the strategic intelligence cooperation continued throughout the war,” Reuters reported, even as the live feed was temporarily shut off.
Former CIA operations chief Daniel Hoffman described the bond as uniquely sensitive: “Intelligence-sharing is sacred, especially with a particularly close ally in a volatile region,” he told Reuters.
Detainee treatment allegations kept building
US withheld intelligence from Israel amid mounting concern over how Palestinians were being held and interrogated during the war. A Physicians for Human Rights Israel report described deaths in custody and alleged patterns of abuse and medical neglect, urging an independent international investigation.
A Congressional Research Service brief on the “Leahy laws” explains how U.S. aid can be barred to foreign security force units when there is credible information tying them to gross human rights violations. A Washington Post report said the State Department recommended suspending assistance to two Israeli military units under the Leahy law over detainee abuse allegations, but Secretary of State Antony Blinken did not authorize the step.
Earlier reporting that foreshadowed the debate
A Reuters explainer detailed U.S. MQ-9 Reaper flights over Gaza after the Oct. 7 attacks, underscoring how closely U.S. surveillance became tied to hostage efforts.
An Associated Press investigation reported allegations of harsh conditions at a desert facility linked to detainees.
An Amnesty International report urged an end to mass incommunicado detention of Palestinians from Gaza.
A U.N. human rights office report said Palestinian detainees were held arbitrarily and secretly and subjected to torture and mistreatment.
In the end, US withheld intelligence from Israel only briefly — but the episode underscores a reality Washington rarely says out loud: Intelligence support can be as politically sensitive, and as conditional, as the weapons that accompany it.
