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Al Jazeera
10 hours ago
- Health
- Al Jazeera
Inside Israel's role in the killings at Gaza's food aid sites
The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), a US nonprofit backed by the US and Israel, was set up earlier this year to provide humanitarian aid in Gaza. Its aid distribution got under way in May, following a prolonged halt in supply deliveries to the enclave. But according to the UN, more than 1,000 Palestinians have been killed trying to access food at the GHF aid hubs. Starving and beleaguered Palestinians in Gaza have no choice but to walk several miles to collect much-needed food packages from the four heavily militarised hubs. Palestinian medics and civilians told Al Jazeera that GHF and Israeli troops have routinely opened fire on the aid seekers, killing dozens at a time. Harrowing accounts have been corroborated by video evidence, whistleblowers and Israeli soldiers, and the killings have fuelled international outcry – including condemnations from heads of state, UN agencies and human rights groups. Who is responsible for the killings? Mainly Israeli troops, but mercenaries working for the GHF are also implicated, according to Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor, which documents atrocities against Palestinians. Euro-Med also alleges that Israeli forces have enabled Palestinian gangs to loot aid convoys and terrorise civilians. A retired United States special forces officer, Anthony Aguilar, who was formerly employed by the GHF, recently disclosed some of the brutal treatment Palestinians face at aid sites. 'Without question, I witnessed war crimes by the [Israeli military],' Aguilar told the BBC in an exclusive interview. How are the Palestinians being killed? Doctors and survivors in Gaza say that Israel often uses snipers to aim directly at Palestinian aid seekers. Dr Fadel Naeem said he frequently treats survivors in the al-Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza City and that most of the gunshot wounds he sees are to the 'head, chest and abdomen'. He noted that Israel also appears to fire indiscriminately at starving Palestinians, sometimes firing tear gas, explosives or artillery shells at large crowds. These attacks often cause serious burns, as well as flesh and shrapnel wounds. 'There is often severe tissue tearing … and many [of the injured] end up with amputated limbs,' said Dr Naeem. Other Palestinians sustain fractures and broken bones, typically by being trampled in the mad rush to flee Israeli gunfire or obtain a bag of food aid. Dr Hassan al-Shaer, who works in al-Shifa Hospital, also says many of the injuries are serious. 'Many of the [injured] victims that come to us also have life-threatening wounds, and they are taken to the operating room immediately,' he told Al Jazeera. What excuse does Israel give for these killings? Israel officially denies firing at Palestinians and frequently claims that its troops only fire 'warning shots' outside GHF distribution hubs to prevent overcrowding. The Israeli army also says 'chaos' at the sites poses an 'immediate threat' to army soldiers. Yet, according to a news report published by the Israeli daily Haaretz on June 27, Israeli troops pose the real threat. Many soldiers who served in Gaza admitted that they were 'ordered to shoot' directly at Palestinian aid seekers by their superiors. 'Where I was stationed, between one and five people were killed every day. They're treated like a hostile force – no crowd-control measures, no tear gas – just live fire with everything imaginable: heavy machine guns, grenade launchers, mortars,' one soldier told Haaretz. 'It's a killing field,' he added. Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Isaac Katz both deny the allegations and claim that they amount to 'blood libel' against Israel, meaning they equate it to a false and anti-Semitic accusation that Jewish people murder Christian children to use their blood in religious rituals. Does medical evidence on the ground support Israel's official narrative? No, accounts from doctors in Gaza hospitals and clinics do not support Israel's claim. Dr Shaer, from al-Shifa, noted that many of the injured people started coming into the hospital when the GHF began aid distribution in late May. Injuries are often compounded with illnesses and weak immune systems, effects brought on by starvation in Gaza. Hakeem Yahiya Mansour, a 30-year-old Palestinian emergency medic in Gaza, added 'death always happens' at GHF sites. 'Most of the calls we get are from the surroundings [of the distribution zones],' he told Al Jazeera. What do the GHF sites look like? Footage of the sites shows thousands of starving Palestinians crowded onto a strip of land roughly the size of a football field, according to Doctors Without Borders, known by its French initials MSF. Aid seekers are surrounded by guard towers and are often forced to fight for food parcels that are tossed to hungry crowds at poorly arranged and chaotic distribution points. Tanks are often stationed nearby, and aid seekers can hear the terrifying buzzing of drones above them. According to satellite imagery obtained by Al Jazeera's verification unit, Sanad, Palestinians have little space to manoeuvre or receive aid. Despite the dangers, Palestinians face an impossible choice: die from gunfire or starvation. Many chose to accept the risk and go for aid in the hope of obtaining food for their families and small children. Mohanad Shaaban said he did not eat for three days, pushing him to head to the GHF site on July 30. He remembers seeing two tanks at the site – one on the right and a second on the left. 'The [Israelis] then opened fire on us,' he recalled solemnly. 'Please tell the world to end this famine,' Shaaban said. How is the world responding? Harrowing scenes and images of Palestinians dying of hunger and being killed at GHF aid sites have compelled some of Israel's allies to issue stern condemnations and ultimatums. France, Germany and the United Kingdom recently issued a statement urging Israel to scale up life-saving aid. What's more, France has taken the symbolic step of recognising a Palestinian state, which the UK also threatened to do, unless Israel ends the 'appalling situation' in Gaza and commits to the 'two-state' solution. Canada has also said it will recognise a Palestinian state in September.
Al Jazeera
13 hours ago
- Politics
- Al Jazeera
GHF whistleblower says boy killed by Israel just after he collected aid
Barefoot and dressed in tattered clothes, Amir approached a GHF aid distribution point in Gaza desperate for help. He had walked 12km (7.5 miles) to collect food. And moments after the frail boy received his small packets of aid, the Israeli army opened fire. That was the account Anthony Aguilar, a United States Army veteran, gave during a recent interview. The former GHF contractor has been warning the world about the US- and Israeli-backed aid scheme. On Thursday, outrage over the GHF and the accounts Aguilar has been sharing with US lawmakers and journalists continued to grow. In an interview with Israeli activist Offir Gutelzon and journalist Noga Tarnopolsky on the UnXeptable podcast this week, Aguilar recounted that Amir approached him as a crowd of aid seekers began to depart an aid distribution site. Aguilar shared photos of the boy he identified as Amir – a small child that looks to be no older than 10 or 12. 'He puts out his hand, and so I beckoned him to come to me. I said, 'Come here.' And he reaches out and he holds my hand, and he kisses my hand and he says, 'Shukran [Thank you],'' Aguilar recounted. But their meeting was swiftly interrupted as 'pepper spray, tear gas, stun grenades and bullets' were shot into the air and at the feet of Amir and the crowd of aid seekers still gathered, Aguilar said. As the 'last group of people, women and children and small children and kids and children and babies' left the site, Aguilar said he could hear machinegun fire from the Israeli army. 'They're shooting to control the population that's along the Morag Corridor. And as they're doing that, they're shooting into this crowd, … and Palestinians, civilians, human beings, are dropping to the ground, getting shot,' he said. 'And Amir was one of them. Amir walked 12km to get food, got nothing but scraps, thanked us for it and died,' he said. Health authorities have said more than 1,000 Palestinians have been killed seeking aid since the GHF began its operations in late May, replacing the United Nations-backed system that had previously overseen aid deliveries to the enclave. All told, at least 60,249 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since the war began on October 7, 2023. 'Generated a bloodbath' Israel has maintained that aid distribution by the GHF, which requires aid seekers to travel long distances, is needed to prevent Hamas from stealing aid entering Gaza. However, a recent internal analysis by the US Agency for International Development recently found no evidence of widespread aid diversion by Hamas. Israeli military officials similarly told The New York Times last week that they had no evidence that Hamas was systemically stealing aid. Israel has maintained that it does not intentionally target civilians but has acknowledged some instances in which its forces have opened fire on crowds near distribution sites. Amid mounting international pressure and reports of rising starvation deaths, Israel last week agreed to allow agencies other than the GHF to once again bring aid into Gaza. Since the war began, at least 154 people, including 89 children, have died of malnutrition, most in recent weeks, according to Gaza's Ministry of Health, amid what a global monitor called a 'worst-case scenario of famine' unfolding. Still, the UN has warned the aid flow remains deeply insufficient with the trickle of deliveries leading to more scenes of deadly desperation. Local health sources reported at least 15 aid seekers killed since dawn on Thursday. The GHF has dismissed Aguilar as a disgruntled former employee, saying in a statement that he 'was terminated for misconduct, pleaded to be rehired and threatened repercussions, and is now spreading false allegations'. But the group continues to face mounting international condemnation. On Thursday, French Foreign and European Affairs Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said the GHF has 'generated a bloodbath' in Gaza. Barrot said the 'militarised distribution of humanitarian aid … is a scandal which is shameful and has to stop'.
Yahoo
a day ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Gaza aid org. blasts 'disgruntled' ex-staffer for telling media 'war crimes' committed at aid sites
The former US Green Beret previously said he had "never witnessed the level of brutality against an unarmed, starving civilian population until I was in Gaza." The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) slammed former US Green Beret Lt.-Col. Anthony Aguilar on Wednesday over his comments to the BBC on Saturday, in which he said that he witnessed the IDF firing at unarmed civilians at aid distribution sites. Aguilar is a 'disgruntled contractor,' the GHF said. 'I witnessed the IDF firing into a crowd of Palestinians,' Aguilar told the BBC. 'I witnessed the IDF firing a main gun round from a Merkava tank into a crowd of people, destroying a car full of civilians that were simply driving away from the site.' 'In my entire career, I have never witnessed – until I was in Gaza – the level of brutality and use of indiscriminate and unnecessary force against an unarmed, starving civilian population at the hands of the IDF and US contractors,' he continued. Per the GHF, Aguilar's statements to the BBC prompted an immediate investigation that found his testimony to be false. The US-backed aid organization discredited Aguilar, saying that he was terminated from the organization against his will. In fact, he had previously praised the GHF's work, it continued. According to the aid organization, Aguilar's claim that UG Solutions (the GHF's security partner) contractors used stun grenades, tear gas, and other non-lethal munitions in a manner that harmed civilians seeking aid is false. It said that contractors used pepper spray, smoke, and flash-bang grenades to prevent trampling among the crowds of civilians seeking aid. The organization also said that warning shots have been used to disperse crowds; however, these shots were directed either upward in the air or toward the coastline – not at the civilians seeking aid. According to the GHF, Aguilar only worked for UG Solutions as a contractor for a total of 27 days before he was fired on June 13 for misconduct. 'Aguilar failed to perform basic tasks that were his responsibility,' it said. The next day, he asked the organization to reconsider and offered to work in any capacity, according to the organization. 'As late as July 4, Mr. Aguilar informed the UG leadership that he had submitted a new application for work in Gaza,' it continued. 'I do not want to leave. I understand that my current contract as the JTOC operator is terminated. Fine, but I can be put on a new contract... If the fear is that other personnel like it or [don't]... then the UG is being held hostage. I can be of huge value to this company and contract – take advantage of me as an asset,' the GHF quoted Aguilar as saying. Pledges retribution if he is not hired back by aid org. It also said that he threatened UG Solutions with retribution if he was not hired back. On June 15, he allegedly wrote to the company: 'I could be your best friend or your worst nightmare; stop effing around. Put me back to work, and let's get this mission done.' 'Figure something out, or I'm on a plane come Tuesday and the gloves are off,' the aid organization quoted him as saying on June 21 as he cited his family's needs as the reason for why he was asking to be rehired. The GHF said, 'Despite Mr. Aguilar's many attempts to be rehired, the company held firm. Mr. Aguilar's behavior barred him from further work in a complex environment like Gaza.' It added that Aguilar was not a witness to IDF actions. 'He did not leave the static distribution site during operations, and from there, he would not have had a line of sight to any IDF assets that were behind the high berms protecting the sites.'
France 24
2 days ago
- France 24
Exclusive: GHF ‘complicit in war crimes' in Gaza, says former aid contractor
Retired US Army Special Forces officer Anthony Aguilar worked as a subcontractor for UG Solutions in the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation aid delivery operation. He was at a distribution site in Gaza in May when a stun grenade was thrown into the crowd right next to a Palestinian woman who was putting items from the aid box she had just collected into a bag so she could leave. The stun grenade knocked the unarmed Palestinian woman unconscious, Aguilar said. "She was lifeless. She wasn't moving," he added. Footage filmed by former US army soldier and GHF subcontractor reveals harrowing details of the aid operation.
Middle East Eye
2 days ago
- Politics
- Middle East Eye
Starving child in Gaza was killed 'seconds' after receiving aid, former US military contractor says
A former US Army Special Forces officer, who resigned from his role at the controversial Israeli and US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) last month, has said that an emaciated child was shot dead by Israeli forces moments after receiving aid. Anthony Aguilar told the UnXeptable podcast on Monday that he saw Israeli forces kill the young boy, named Amir, and countless others while he was manning a GHF aid distribution point in southern Gaza on 28 May. "This young boy, Amir, walked up to me, barefoot and wearing tattered clothes that hung off his emaciated body," Aguilar said. "He walked 12km to get there, and when he got there, he thanked us for the remnants and the small crumbs that he got. "He set them down on the ground, because I was kneeling at this point, and he sets his food down, and he places his hands on my face, on the side of my face, on my cheeks, these frail, skeleton, emaciated hands - dirty - and he puts them on my face, and he kissed me. New MEE newsletter: Jerusalem Dispatch Sign up to get the latest insights and analysis on Israel-Palestine, alongside Turkey Unpacked and other MEE newsletters "He kissed me, and he said thank you in English, thank you. And he collected his items, and he walked back to the group," he said. "Then he was shot at with pepper spray, tear gas, stun grenades and bullets shot at his feet [and then] in the air, and he runs away scared, and the IDF [Israeli army] were shooting at the crowd. "They're shooting into this crowd and Palestinians - civilians, human beings - are dropping to the ground, getting shot. And Amir was one of them." According to the United Nations, more than 1,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces while trying to access food in Gaza since the controversial GHF began operations in late May. Middle East Eye journalist Ahmed Dremly, who visited one of the GHF sites to collect food for his family, compared the experience of trying to receive food to the TV show Squid Game, in which killing was entertainment. Israeli troops have admitted to deliberately shooting and killing unarmed Palestinians waiting for aid in the Gaza Strip, following direct orders from their superiors. 'They're not animals, they're human beings' Last week, Philippe Lazzarini, the commissioner-general of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (Unrwa), called the mass starvation in Gaza "constructed and deliberate". In a statement, he said that GHF's flawed distribution system is not designed to address the humanitarian crisis. "It's serving military and political objectives. It's cruel as it takes more lives than it saves lives. Israel controls all aspects of humanitarian access, whether outside or within Gaza." 'We treat these civilians in Gaza worse, with less dignity, than we treated the ISIS fighters that surrendered in Baghouz in Syria' - Anthony Aguilar, former US contractor He also said that airdrops – which Israel had approved – were "the most expensive and inefficient way to deliver aid". "It is a distraction to the inaction," he added. Israel, which rejects the criticism, has instead accused Hamas of stealing aid and says its blockade on the entry of food is partly aimed at preventing the group from diverting supplies. In Monday's podcast, Aguilar condemned what he called the dehumanisation of Palestinians. "What I want to say to the American people and to the people of Israel is that I've been there, I've touched them, I've talked to them. These civilians in Gaza that are getting the food, they're starving. They're not animals, they're human beings, and they're being treated like animals. "We treat these civilians in Gaza worse, with less dignity, than we treated the ISIS fighters that surrendered in Baghouz in Syria." Famine thresholds have been reached On Tuesday, a UN-backed global food security body said famine was unfolding across Gaza, with one in three children in Gaza City acutely malnourished. "Latest data indicates that famine thresholds have been reached for food consumption in most of the Gaza Strip and for acute malnutrition in Gaza City," the UN-backed Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) said in a new report. Starvation in Gaza: Dizziness, fatigue and people collapsing in the streets Read More » "Amid relentless conflict, mass displacement, severely restricted humanitarian access, and the collapse of essential services, including healthcare, the crisis has reached an alarming and deadly turning point." The warning comes as nearly 150 Palestinian children and adults in Gaza have succumbed to death from starvation since Israel's onslaught on Gaza in October 2023. The blockade on the Palestinian enclave has fluctuated in intensity, but since 2 March, Israel has prevented all food and aid from reaching starving Palestinians. Last week, more than 100 international human rights and humanitarian organisations called for an end to the siege, citing widespread starvation affecting their staff. Unrwa communications director Juliette Touma also told MEE last week that several of the organisation's staff fainted on duty due to malnutrition. More than 58,000 Palestinians have been killed as a result of Israel's war on Gaza, which several countries, as well as many international rights groups and experts, now qualify as genocide.
