Image source, Getty Images
-
- Author, Lucy Williamson
- Author's title, BBC correspondent in the Middle East
A former security contractist for the controversial new humanitarian aid distribution centers from Gaza, backed by Israel and the United States, told the BBC that he witnessed how his companions opened fire several times against Hungry Palestinians who did not represent any threat, even with machine guns.
He said that on one occasion a guard shot from a surveillance tower with a machine gun because a group of women, children and the elderly moved away from the place.
When asking for an answer, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) said the accusations were flatly false.
They referred us to a statement that indicates that no civilian has been attacked in the GHF distribution centers.
Polemic on the GHF
The GHF began its operations in Gaza at the end of May, to distribute limited humanitarian aid from several parts of the south and center of Gaza, after a total blockade of 11 weeks by Israel, during which no food in the territory entered.
The system has been widely criticized for forcing large amounts of people to walk through active combat areas to go to a few places.
Since the implementation of the GHF, the Israeli forces have killed more than 400 Palestinians who tried to collect the food aid of their facilities, according to the UN and local doctors.
Israel states that the new distribution system prevents help from reaching Hamas.
By continuing with his description of the incident in one of the GHF facilities, in which he ensures that the guards shot at a group of Palestinians, the former contractist said: “While this was happening, another contractor who was in the place, standing in the embankment he gave to the exit, opened fire with between 15 to 20 repetitive shots against the crowd.
Image source, Image provided to the BBC
A Palestinian collapsed motionless. And then the other contractor who was there exclaimed: 'Rayos, I think you gave one!' And then they laughed. “
The contractor, who spoke with us on condition of anonymity, said that GHF executives reduced importance to their report, considering it a coincidence, and suggested that the Palestinian could have “stumbled” or would have “tired and fainted.”
The GHF said that the man who made these accusations is a “former discontnts discontent” whom they had fired for misconduct, but he denies it. He showed us payrolls that suggested that he continued charging for two weeks after leaving the position.
Image source, Image obtained by the BBC
Culture of impunity
The man we talked to, who claimed to have worked in the four GHF distribution centers, described a culture of impunity with few norms and controls.
He added that the contractors did not receive clear rules of intervention or standard operational procedures, and that a team leader would have told them: “If they feel threatened, shoot, shoot to kill and ask later.”
The culture in the company, according to him, was: “We are going to go into Gaza, so there are no rules. Do what they want.”
“If a Palestinian moves away from the center without showing any hostile intention, and we make warning shots anyway, we are wrong, we are criminally negligent,” he told me.
He explained that each center had security cameras that monitored the activity in the area, and that the insistence of the GHF that no one had been injured or received shots was “a shameless lie.”
The GHF said that the shots that are heard in the images shared with the BBC came from Israeli forces.
The team leaders referred to the Gazatis as “zombie hordes,” said the former contractist, “hinting that these people have no value.”
Image source, Getty Images
Grenades and pepper gas
The man also said that the Palestinians suffered other damages in the GHF facilities, for example, when reached by the remains of the stunned grenades, sprinkled with pepper gas or pushed by the crowd towards the thorn wire.
He added having witnessed several occasions in which Palestinians seemed seriously injured, including a man with a can full of pepper gas in the face and a woman who, according to him, was reached with the metal part of a stunned grenade, unduly shot against the crowd.
“This metal piece impacted him directly to his head and fell to the ground, motionless,” he said. “I don't know if I was dead. I know with certainty that I was unconscious and completely inert.”
The GHF operation has been criticized for forcing people to walk through active combat areas. Earlier this week, more than 170 beneficial organizations and other NGOs requested the closure of the GHF.
Organizations, including Oxfam and Save the Children, affirm that Israeli forces and armed groups openly open fire against Palestinians looking for help.
Israel denies that its soldiers deliberately shoot against the beneficiaries of the aid and states that the GHF system provides direct assistance to those who need it, avoiding Hamas's interference.
The GHF claims to have delivered more than 52 million food rations in five weeks and that other organizations remain helpless while their help is looted.
The Israeli army launched a campaign in Gaza in response to Hamas's attack against Israel on October 7, 2023, in which some 1,200 people died and another 251 were taken as hostages.
At least 57,130 people have died in Gaza since then, according to the Ministry of Health of the Territory, controlled by Hamas.
Additional reporting by Gidi Kleiman and Samantha Granville
Subscribe here To our new newsletter to receive every Friday a selection of our best content of the week.
And remember that you can receive notifications in our app. Download the latest version and act.
