Several US officials have said they feel “stifled” about having a full debate on what is happening in Gaza, particularly Israeli restraint on Palestinians, according to a HuffPost report.

Staffers of the Bident administration, most of whom work on national security issues, told the news outlet that they and their colleagues worry about “retaliation at work for questioning Israel’s conduct amid the US-backed Israeli campaign” on Gaza after the Oct 7 Hamas attack.

HuffPost said the fear was especially intense among officials with Muslim backgrounds.

“On Sunday, presidential personnel office chief Gautam Raghavan organised a call with close to a dozen current and former high-level Muslim appointees to discuss their concerns. Some staffers said they felt unsafe voicing their opinions around colleagues, according to a person on the call, which has not been previously reported,” the report said.

A career civil servant described the tension between their commitment to challenging rights abuses and their job.

Meanwhile, the report said White House officials are planning to hold a “listening session with Muslim, Arab and Palestinian staff to hear from them directly” in the coming days.