US contractors fired live bullets at Palestinians queuing for food: Report

Middle East Eye

a day ago

US security contractors working with the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) have fired live ammunition and stun grenades at starving Palestinians queuing for food and supplies, according to a report by the AP.
The report published on Thursday was based on testimony from two US contractors and videos obtained by AP.
The contractors said their colleagues frequently threw stun grenades and fired pepper spray in all directions at the sites, including towards Palestinians.
They also said that staff hired to secure the aid distribution sites were often unqualified, heavily armed and had an open licence to do as they wished.
'There are innocent people being hurt. Badly. Needlessly,' one contractor said, adding that staff monitor anyone deemed 'suspicious' and pass that information over to the Israeli military.
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The US and Israeli-backed GHF began operating in late May, following a three-month total blockade on the Gaza Strip by Israeli forces.
Since then, more than 500 Palestinians have been killed and around 4,000 wounded by Israeli troops while attempting to access food and aid supplies.
Internal communications seen by the AP revealed that during a single distribution of aid last month, security contractors used 37 stun grenades, 27 rubber and smoke 'scat shell' projectiles and 60 cans of pepper spray.
The report added that this tally did not include the use of live ammunition.
One of the contractors shared a photo with the AP of a woman lying in a donkey cart after being struck in the head by a stun grenade.
Videos shared by the sources showed crowds of Palestinians trying to receive aid at the sites, 'amid the sound of bullets, stun grenades and the sting of pepper spray', the AP reported.
'Calculated'
In other videos, English-speaking men are heard talking about how to disperse crowds and encouraging each other following a volley of gunfire.
One contractor said he saw other contractors shooting at Palestinians from a tower above the site as they were leaving the area, having collected food parcels. He said it was unclear why they were shooting at people departing the site.
AP used audio forensic experts to verify the sound of ammunition in the videos.
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The contractors said that Israel's army was also using the aid distribution system for accessing intelligence.
The sources said that cameras monitoring the sites are screened by American analysts and Israeli soldiers in a control room on the Israeli side of the Karem Abu Salem (Kerem Shalom) crossing into Gaza.
One said that some of the cameras have facial recognition software, and flag people of interest. Israeli soldiers often watch the screen and cross-check it with their own drone footage from the sites, he added.
A spokesperson for Safe Reach Solutions, a logistics company subcontracted by the GHF, told the AP that there hadn't been any serious injuries at their sites.
The GHF said its team was composed of seasoned humanitarian, logistics and security professionals, and that people with a 'vested interest' were trying to make the aid organisation fail.
Earlier this week, more than 170 NGOs called for immediate action to close the GHF scheme and revert back to United Nations-led aid coordination mechanisms.
Previously, during the two-month ceasefire between mid-January and mid-March, 400 aid distribution points were in operation in the enclave. These have now been replaced by four militarised distribution sites, forcing over two million people into crowded zones where they face Israeli gunfire.
Deadly aid journeys
Last week, Yousef al-Ajouri, a 40-year-old Palestinian in Gaza City, recounted to Middle East Eye his deadly journey attempting to receive food from the GHF.
He likened the experience to dystopian TV show Squid Game, describing how he feared for his life amid Israeli snipers, saw multiple dead bodies, and had to push and shove other starved Palestinians to try to obtain food parcels.
Israeli military officials admitted they fired at Palestinian civilians lining up for aid in Gaza even though they posed no threat, according to a report by Haaretz newspaper on Monday.
The admission follows a report by the newspaper on Friday in which Israeli soldiers admitted they were directed to fire at starving civilians at the GHF distribution points in Gaza.
Haaretz reported that officials in the Southern Command unit said they were "ordered to fire at unarmed crowds near food distribution sites in Gaza, even when no threat was present", and that senior Israeli officers acknowledged that civilians had been killed due to "inaccurate and uncalculated" artillery fire.
Last week, 15 human rights and legal organisations said the GHF may be complicit in international crimes.