from march 1995 to february 1996, gillon was the director of shin bet. b'tselem, human rights watch, and other human rights organizations have criticized his oversight. "during his tenure, and until the israel high court of justice ruled against such methods in 1999, gss interrogators were officially sanctioned to use 'moderate physical pressure' on detainees (the vast majority of them palestinians)," according to amnesty international. from october 1994, when a suicide bomb killed 23 people, they were allowed to use "increased physical pressure". secret government guidelines set down what "moderate physical pressure" and "increased physical pressure" allowed; according to court testimonies of gss members themselves, this included subjecting detainees to sleep deprivation, prolonged shackling in painful positions, hooding with filthy sacks, being forced to squat like a frog (gambaz) and violent shaking (tiltul). during carmi gillon's period of service with the gss such methods of interrogation were used against several hundred palestinian detainees every year, many of whom were later released without charge.