Ex-US contractor says he saw IDF commit war crimes at aid sites; GHF rejects ‘false claims’ – The Times of Israel
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Diverging Reports Breakdown
Ex-US contractor says he saw IDF commit war crimes at aid sites; GHF rejects ‘false claims’
An American former contractor for the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) said in an interview that aired Friday that he saw Israeli soldiers and US contractors use “indiscriminate” force against civilians. Anthony Aguilar described the US- and Israel-backed aid mechanism as “amateur,” saying GHF conduct was “inexperienced, untrained” The GHF questioned Aguilar’s motives, saying he had recently been fired for “inappropriate behavior” and accusing him of making “false claims with no basis in reality”The interview came as international pressure and criticism mounted surrounding the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. Reports of Palestinians suffering and dying from hunger and from gunfire near GHF aid sites continue to grow daily, including several on Saturday, the health ministry says. More than 1,000 people have been killed near the GHF sites since May, adding to the 58,000 total people killed since May 27.
The GHF questioned Aguilar’s motives, saying he had recently been fired for “inappropriate behavior” and accusing him of making “false claims with no basis in reality.”
The interview came as international pressure and criticism mounted surrounding the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, as reports of Palestinians suffering and dying from hunger and from gunfire near GHF aid sites continue to grow daily.
In an interview with the BBC, former US special forces soldier and GHF aid worker Anthony Aguilar described the US- and Israel-backed aid mechanism as “amateur,” saying GHF conduct was “inexperienced, untrained,” and had “no idea how to conduct operations of this magnitude.”
“That would be my most benign assessment,” he said.
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“My most frank assessment — I would say that they are criminal,” he continued.
“In my entire career, I have never witnessed the level of brutality and use of indiscriminate and unnecessary force against a civilian population, an unarmed, starving population,” he said.
“I have never witnessed that in all the places that I have been deployed to war, until I was in Gaza — at the hands of IDF and US contractors,” he said.
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“Without question, I witnessed war crimes,” Aguilar claimed, saying they were committed “by the Israeli Defense Forces, without a doubt, using artillery rounds, mortar rounds, firing tank rounds into unarmed civilians.”
“That’s a war crime,” he said.
GHF rejects ‘false claims’
After the interview aired, the GHF released a statement saying Aguilar made “false claims with no basis in reality.”
“Upon hearing Mr. Aguilar’s claims, we immediately launched an investigation,” the GHF said. “The findings, based on cross-checking the timelines with video clips and on sources on the ground, indicate that these are false claims with no basis in reality.
“It should be emphasized that Mr. Aguilar was employed as a subcontractor and was fired over a month ago for inappropriate behavior,” the aid foundation added. “Following the dismissal, we received threats that unless he was reinstated, action would be taken against us, raising questions regarding the motivation behind his interviews.
“We also have evidence that he likely forged documents and presented misleading videos to promote his false narrative,” GHF added, without elaborating on the ostensible evidence.
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“The issue of the safety of those visiting the aid distribution centers, as well as the Foundation’s employees, is a top priority, and we operate to high standards and will not allow them to be violated,” GHF said. “We continue to focus on our core mission: to provide food to the residents of Gaza — safely, directly and without interruption, as we have been doing since the beginning of operations on May 27. Since then, we have distributed more than 92 million rations to the Palestinian residents of Gaza.”
The GHF’s operations have been under intense scrutiny for the two months since its opening in late May, with daily reports of Palestinians killed while seeking aid at GHF sites, including several on Saturday.
Israel, which accuses Hamas of hoarding aid, has accused the terror group of attacking Gazan aid seekers near GHF sites and falsifying death tolls.
The IDF says that its soldiers only fire “warning shots” to control the crowds, though it has admitted that its fire has killed “several” Palestinians at aid sites.
The GHF consistently denies that there have been deadly shootings at its sites, and says that Hamas agitators have attacked and threatened its staff and have tried to cause unrest at the aid sites.
The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry says more than 1,000 people have been killed near the GHF sites since May, adding to the 58,000 total people the group says have been killed in Gaza since the war began, though the toll cannot be verified and does not differentiate between civilians and fighters.
US contractors at Gaza aid group accused of ‘firing live rounds at hungry Palestinians’ outside distribution centres
US contractors at Gaza aid group accused of ‘firing live rounds at hungry Palestinians’ outside distribution centres. At least 600 Palestinians have been killed and 4,066 injured while waiting for food aid at sites run by the GHF. Thousands of desperate Palestinians descend on the aid sites every day during the short windows in which they are open. Footage has emerged of a number of instances where large crowds are being shot at while waiting to enter the compounds. In one video reportedly provided by a contractor, the sound of gunfire can be heard ringing out as hundreds of Palestinians are crammed between tight metal gates. As soon as the gunfire stops, a man is heard shouting: “Whoo! Whoo!” while another says “I think you hit one.” The GHF has strongly denied the claims calling them ‘categorically false’ It said it has investigated the claims and concluded that the claims in the footage and witness statements are categorically false. At no point were no civilians under fire at a GHF distribution center set up by the US.
Palestinians gather at an aid distribution point set up by the privately-run Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), near the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip on June 25, 2025. Picture: Getty
By Josef Al Shemary
Two American security contractors working for a firm guarding Israeli-backed food distribution centres have spoken of colleagues firing live ammunition at starving Palestinians queuing for food.
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The workers, employed by the controversial Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), were involved with the guarding of aid distribution centres in the region.
The contractors had claimed “their colleagues regularly lobbed stun grenades and pepper spray in the direction of the Palestinians” and “bullets were fired in all directions – in the air, into the ground and at times toward the Palestinians, recalling at least one instance where he thought someone had been hit,” according to AP.
The reports came under the promise of anonymity, given the details related to internal security workings, with the GHF branding the allegations “categorically false”.
The GHF is run by the US and Israel, with teams mostly staffed by private American contractors, who the contractors say are often unqualified, unvetted and heavily armed.
At least 600 Palestinians have been killed and 4,066 injured while waiting for food aid at sites run by the GHF, according to the Gaza Government Media Office.
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Wounded Palestinians are brought to Shifa Hospital in Gaza City after being injured while on their way to an aid distribution center, Thursday, July 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi). Picture: Alamy
The two employees told AP they were coming forward because they were disturbed by the ‘dangerous and irresponsible’ practices.
“There are innocent people being hurt. Badly. Needlessly,” the contractor told AP.
Shootings outside food distribution sites have been widely reported since Israel eased its blockade of humanitarian aid, including food and medicine, in May and began managing the distribution of aid itself.
Before this, Israel had imposed a complete blockade on the Gaza Strip for almost 3 months, claiming Hamas had been profiting off the aid by selling it to starving Palestinians.
While the UN would distribute aid through hundreds of sites across the enclave, the GHF does so at four militarised sites, three of which are in the far south of the Gaza strip.
Palestinians walk back through the Netzarim corridor in central Gaza carrying aid parcels received from the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) on June 26, 2025. Picture: Getty
Thousands, and sometimes tens of thousands, of desperate Palestinians descend on the aid sites every day during the short windows in which they are open.
Footage has emerged of a number of instances where large crowds are being shot at while waiting to enter the compounds. In one video reportedly provided by a contractor, the sound of gunfire can be heard ringing out as hundreds of Palestinians are crammed between tight metal gates.
The footage does not show where the bullets and stun grenades are coming from.
A second clip provided by American contractors has the sound of gunfire in the background. As soon as the gunfire stops, a man is heard shouting: “Whoo! Whoo!” while another says “I think you hit one.”
“Hell, yeah, boy!” a third man is heard shouting in the video. The contractor that recorded it said the men shouting had been shooting in the direction of Palestinians.
Another whistleblower – a former contractor at the foundation – told the BBC team leaders refer to starving Palestinians queuing for aid as ‘zombie hordes… insinuating that these people have no value.”
The GHF has strongly denied the news agency’s allegations, calling them ‘categorically false’. It said it has investigated the claims.
In a statement on X, GHF wrote: “Based on time-stamped video footage and sworn witness statements, we have concluded that the claims in the AP’s story are categorically false. At no point were civilians under fire at a GHF distribution site.
“The gunfire heard in the video was confirmed to have originated from the IDF, who was outside the immediate vicinity of the GHF distribution site.
“It was not directed at individuals, and no one was shot or injured. What is most troubling is that the AP refused to share the full video with us prior to publication, despite the seriousness of the allegations.”
Palestinians flock to the aid center set up by the US and Israeli-led Gaza Humanitarian Relief Foundation on the Coastal Road in the Sudaniya area in northern Gaza City, Gaza on June 17, 2025. Picture: Alamy
It comes after reports of Israeli soldiers saying their commanders have ordered them to deliberately shoot at unarmed Palestinians waiting for humanitarian aid in Gaza, describing it as a ‘killing field’.
Soldiers and officers in the IDF have now told the Israeli newspaper Haaretz they were told to fire at the crowds of civilians to disperse them, even when they didn’t pose a threat.
“Where I was stationed, between one and five people were killed every day,” one soldier said. “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.
“Then, once the center opens, the shooting stops, and they know they can approach. Our form of communication is gunfire.”
The soldier said he was “not aware of a single instance of return fire. There’s no enemy, no weapons.”
Another soldier, who operates a tank, told the newspaper that, while the army sometimes uses tank fire as warnings, “firing shells has just become standard practice. Every time we fire, there are casualties and deaths, and when someone asks why a shell is necessary, there’s never a good answer. Sometimes, merely asking the question annoys the commanders.”
The Israeli Military Advocate General has ordered an investigation to be opened into potential violations of the laws of war, trying to find out if some of the killings at the aid sites constitute war crimes.
The Israeli army “strongly rejected” the accusations in the report, and Israeli PM Netanyahu and Defence Minister Israel Katz have both denied the allegations of war crimes, calling them ‘blood libels’.
Andrew Marr demands answers over Israel killing 51 Palestinians in aid queue
Amnesty International has accused the GHF using starvation tactics against Palestinians to continue to commit genocide in the Gaza Strip during Israel’s war with Hamas.
The human rights group published a report on Thursday condemning Israel and the GHF, saying Israel has “turned aid-seeking into a booby trap for desperate starved Palestinians” through the militarised aid hubs.
The conditions have created “a deadly mix of hunger and disease pushing the population past breaking point”.
“This devastating daily loss of life as desperate Palestinians try to collect aid is the consequence of their deliberate targeting by Israeli forces and the foreseeable consequence of irresponsible and lethal methods of distribution,” said Agnes Callamard, Amnesty’s secretary general.
Israel’s foreign minister denounced the Amnesty report, saying the organisation has “joined forces with Hamas and fully adopted all of its propaganda lies”.
The foreign ministry and COGAT, the Israeli defence body in charge of co-ordinating aid to Gaza, said Israel has facilitated the entry of more than 3,000 aid trucks into the Gaza Strip since May 19 and GHF has delivered boxes of food with the equivalent of 56 million meals.
Humanitarian organisations say that amount is not nearly enough to meet the overwhelming need in Gaza.
Amnesty’s report follows a statement earlier this week from more than 165 major international charities and non-governmental organizations calling for an immediate end to the foundation.
They say the new mechanism allows Israel to use food as a weapon, violates humanitarian principles and is ineffective.
It is the latest sign of trouble for the GHF, a secretive initiative headed by an evangelical leader who is a close ally of US President Donald Trump.
Last month, the US government pledged 30 million dollars (£22 million) for the group to continue operation, the first known US donation to the group, whose other funding sources remain opaque.
June 27: Israel accuses UN of ‘aligning itself’ with Hamas over Gaza aid
The IDF reportedly launched a probe this week into potential war crimes committed by its troops. Troops have been opening fire on hungry Palestinians on a near-daily basis as they try and reach aid distribution sites. The mass-casualty incidents were discussed at a meeting earlier this week. Senior officers from the IDF’s Southern Command pushed back, claiming that the incidents have been isolated and that troops only fired at Palestinians who posed a threat. The Hamas-run health ministry says 549 people have been killed and 4,000 have been wounded trying to pick up aid from GHF sites or while waiting for UN food trucks since May 27, when GHF launched. Between May 27 and June 24, there were at least 19 IDF shooting incidents related to humanitarian aid distribution, according to a review of reports out of Gaza conducted by The Times of Israel. In most of these cases, the IDF has admitted to opening fire and striking Palestinians, but characterized it as “warning shots” at those who got too close to soldiers.
The mass-casualty incidents were discussed at a meeting earlier this week during which the Military Advocate General’s (MAG) Office directed the top-tier General Staff Fact-Finding Assessment Mechanism to investigate suspected war crimes that have largely taken place near Gaza Humanitarian Foundation distribution sites, Haaretz reports.
The mechanism is an independent military body responsible for investigating unusual incidents amid the war.
During the meeting, officials in the MAG’s office expressed alarm over mounting global uproar over the killing of civilians en route to aid sites, Haaretz reported. Senior officers from the IDF’s Southern Command pushed back, claiming that the incidents have been isolated and that troops only fired at Palestinians who posed a threat.
Representatives from the MAG’s office pushed back, insisting that the Southern Command’s account doesn’t line up with the facts on the ground, according to a source who attended the meeting.
“The claim that these are isolated cases doesn’t align with incidents in which grenades were dropped from the air and mortars and artillery were fired at civilians,” a MAG representative is quoted as having responded.
אני מתחנן אליכם: תסתכלו על הסרטון הזה ממרכזי ״חלוקת הסיוע״ של צה״ל וארה״ב בעזה. כל האנשים כאן, שמנסים לחמוק מהכדורים, עומדים בתור לאוכל. מי שיורה עליהם הם החיילים שלנו. כן, היום נחשף סופית – בעדויות ישירות של חיילים בתחקיר הארץ – שצה״ל יורה יום יום על אנשים מורעבים בתור לאוכל >> pic.twitter.com/NBf0xwLYw6 — Alon-Lee Green – ألون-لي جرين – אלון-לי גרין 🟣 (@AlonLeeGreen) June 27, 2025
“This isn’t about a few people being killed – we’re talking about dozens of casualties every day,” the MAG official adds.
The Hamas-run health ministry says 549 people have been killed and 4,000 have been wounded trying to pick up aid from GHF sites or while waiting for UN food trucks since May 27, when GHF launched.
The numbers have not been verified, but between May 27 and June 24, there were at least 19 IDF shooting incidents related to humanitarian aid distribution, according to a review of reports out of Gaza conducted by The Times of Israel.
In most of these cases, the IDF has admitted to opening fire and striking Palestinians, but characterized it as “warning shots” at those who got too close to soldiers or used site access routes when distribution sites were closed.
Israeli soldiers serving near the aid distribution sites described far more grim scenarios in interviews with Haaretz on condition of anonymity.
“It’s a killing field,” one soldier says. “Where I was stationed there, 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. Then, once the center opens, the shooting stops, and they know they can approach. Our form of communication is gunfire.”
“We open fire early in the morning if someone tries to get in line from a few hundred meters away, and sometimes we just charge at them from close range. But there’s no danger to the forces,” the soldier continues. “I’m not aware of a single instance of return fire. There’s no enemy, no weapons.”
He describes the incidents as a deadly form of the children’s game “Red light, green light.”
“Firing mortars to keep hungry people away is neither professional nor humane. I know there are Hamas operatives among them, but there are also people who simply want to receive aid,” another soldier tells Haaretz.
“It’s become a place with its own set of rules. The loss of human life means nothing. It’s not even an ‘unfortunate incident,’ like [the IDF] used to say.”
Asked to respond to the report, the IDF does not deny any of its contents.
However, it stresses that Hamas is working to prevent the successful operation of GHF sites.
To address the repeated shootings, the IDF says it has placed new fencing and signage on access routes so civilians know where to go.
“Following incidents where there were reports of harm to civilians arriving at distribution centers, in-depth investigations were conducted, and instructions were given to forces on the ground based on lessons learned. These incidents were referred for examination by the General Staff’s debriefing mechanism.”
June 12: Reports: US told Israel it will not provide offensive support for Iran strike
Huckabee cast doubt on reports that US President Donald Trump told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu this week not to attack Iran. “I just don’t in my mind see that that would be something that would likely happen because of the closeness of the relationship and the trust,” says the former governor and Baptist minister. Huckabee blasts Western partners for “putting more pressure on Israel than they’re putting on Hamas,’ he says of the Gaza war. He calls the French-Saudi United Nations on Palestinian statehood next week “ridiculously ill-timed” and “an incredibly worthless, worthless entity that is going after Israelis’ lives.’’ “We don”t want to tell Israel what it should do and how it should create communities in Judea and Samaria, he says, using the Israeli name for the West Bank. ‘We have been very clear, and this goes to the first Trump administration, that developing in Judean communities is not a violation of international law,’ he adds.
“I won’t be making that decision,” says the former governor and Baptist minister. “I just don’t in my mind see that that would be something that would likely happen because of the closeness of the relationship and the trust, and that’s the word I would emphasize, there is a trust between the US and Israel.”
Huckabee cast doubt on reports that US President Donald Trump told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu this week not to attack Iran: “I can’t say that the president gave any instructions. I know they’ve had many conversations and they’ve discussed all aspects, but it would not be like the president to give instructions to the prime minister any more than it would be typical that the prime minister would give instructions to the president.”
Trump will not agree to a JCPOA 2.0 deal in nuclear talks with Iran, insists Huckabee.
“He was the president who tore up the first one,” he says, referring to the 2015 nuclear deal spearheaded by the Barack Obama administration. “I think the last thing he would have any interest in doing would be to embrace an Obama policy that was a total failure and one that he rejected as soon as he got in office.”
“The president made very clear that Iran is not going to have a nuclear weapon, that Iran isn’t going to have any enrichment, and I don’t know how much clearer he could get than he was,” Huckabee adds.
He also says that reports that Trump is frustrated with Netanyahu are “simply not the case.”
“The relationship is, I believe, rock solid.”
Turning to the Gaza war, Huckabee blasts Western partners for “putting more pressure on Israel than they’re putting on Hamas.”
He blames Hamas for the continuation of the war by refusing to surrender, while stressing that the terror organization cannot be allowed to stay in power in Gaza: “Leaving Hamas in power and letting them rule Gaza for the same way that World War II could not end, leaving the Nazis in Germany and letting them continue to rule the place. Plus, that is the message the president has sent us here with Hamas can’t stay.”
“Hamas is not gonna have a role,” Huckabee continues, “so I don’t think there’s any difference of opinion between the president, the prime minister on what it has to look like at the end.”
Despite violence and chaos at distribution sites, Huckabee doubles down on support for the Gaza Humanitarian Fund: “It’s getting better every day. We learn something new every day, and how it’s being carried out. We’re getting greater levels of security, pushing the food further inward to the people who are receiving it, so it’s easier for them to get it. Hamas is doing everything it can to disrupt the flow of the food, and that’s the piece of this that isn’t getting reported.”
He adds that the US is “very frustrated with the fact that the UN has been screaming to get humanitarian aid into Gaza, and then when we created an organization to do that very thing, they’ve sat on their hands.”
He calls the French-Saudi United Nations on Palestinian statehood next week “ridiculously ill-timed.”
“This was in the midst of a war, for heaven’s sakes, that they, they’re facing threats on all sides,” he says of Israel. “You would think that if European countries have time and energy to put pressure on anyone, anything for any purpose, they would say, Hamas, we’re putting all the pressure on you.”
Huckabee says that Washington would not interfere with a decision to annex parts of the West Bank.
“We don’t want to tell Israel what it should do and how it should create communities in Judea and Samaria,” he says, using the Israeli name for the West Bank. “We have been very clear, and this goes back to the first Trump administration, that developing communities in Judea and Samaria is not a violation of international law.”
Asked about the International Criminal Court, Huckabee calls the Hague-based court “an incredibly lawless, worthless entity that is going after Israelis.”
May 29: US says Israel okayed latest Gaza ceasefire proposal before it was sent to Hamas
Israel resumed aid deliveries to Gaza on May 19, after a pause since March 2. 76 trucks carrying humanitarian aid entered the Gaza Strip today. Some of the truckloads have been taken to the new aid distribution sites run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.
Israel resumed aid deliveries to Gaza on May 19, after a pause since March 2.
Since then, 952 trucks of aid have entered the Strip.
Some of the truckloads have been taken to the new aid distribution sites run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. The contents of many of the trucks are still awaiting collection on the Gaza side of the Kerem Shalom crossing.
COGAT says the aid delivery comes “following the recommendation of professional IDF officials and in accordance with the directive of the political echelon.”
Today’s trucks include flour and food, COGAT says.
The aid underwent an inspection first by Israeli authorities before entering Gaza via the Kerem Shalom crossing.