Former Gaza contractor says Israeli soldiers were ready to shoot starving children

Middle East Eye

4 days ago

The Israeli military was preparing to gun down unarmed Palestinian children in Gaza, and a US mercenary firm told an employee that he was not allowed to stand in their way, according to a US military contractor hired to guard a Gaza aid site.
Former Green Beret (US Army special forces) and contractor, Anthony Aguilar, revealed the chilling orders from the Israeli military in an interview with US Senator Chris Van Hollen aired by his office on Tuesday.
Aguilar said that an Israeli lieutenant colonel ordered him to get the Palestinian children off a man's shoulders, on which they were standing, to avoid being crushed by a crowd of starving people trying to retrieve aid.
'A Palestinian man had picked up some children to let them step on his shoulders to get onto a berm because they were being crushed. He [the Israeli officer] says, 'Tell your men to get them down,'' Aguilar told Van Hollen. 'I was like, 'we got this under control'…they're children.'
The Israeli officer erupted, Aguilar recalled, threatening, 'Get them down now or I will.'
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Aguilar said he ignored the threat as 'bombastic' until another US mercenary said the Israeli officer had used a radio to communicate with snipers at a nearby base, ordering them to kill the children.
'One of the contractors…was an American that did speak Hebrew. He said, 'Hey. He just told the snipers…to take these kids out',' Aguilar said.
When Aguilar confronted the Israeli colonel, he replied, 'I'm gonna take care of this if you don't'.
Aguilar said the children eventually ran away from the site, but he had told the Israeli officer that he would not allow him to shoot children.
'They didn't want to be there. They were unarmed. They didn't have shoes. One wasn't wearing a shirt. They were starving,' he said.
'Never say no'
After the incident, Aguilar said the chief operations officer of a US mercenary firm, Safe Reach Solutions (SRS), called him outside and chastised him.
'He looked at me in the face and he said, 'Never say no to the client'.'
Aguilar said he pressed the COO on who Safe Reach Solution's client was, adding that he was under the impression the company had been hired directly by the US- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).
Starving child in Gaza was killed minutes after receiving aid, former US military contractor says Read More »
'He said 'No, the IDF…we work for them,' he added, referring to the Israeli army.
SRS is run by a former high-ranking CIA officer and tied to a US private equity firm in Chicago, Middle East Eye has reported. Aguilar says he was contracted by another firm, UG Solutions, but was taking orders from SRS.
Aguilar told Van Hollen he is a former Green Beret who attended the prestigious West Point Military Academy. After graduation, he said he was commissioned as an infantry officer and had 12 combat deployments during a 25-year military career, including to Iraq, Afghanistan, and Tajikistan.
He says he has since severed his contract with UG Solutions and is speaking out.
The GHF has said Aguilar's contract was terminated by UG Solutions for misconduct. GHF spokesperson Chapin Fay previously accused Aguilar of presenting " falsified documents' and 'misleading videos" about his time in Gaza.
Aguilar has told other news outlets that he witnessed Israeli soldiers and US military contractors shooting unarmed Palestinian civilians and committing "war crimes".
'I'm coming out now because I feel that it's important that the American people know from a trusted and reliable source that was there,' he said.
'The American people need to know what the United States is involved in, in Gaza,' he said.