Egypt Daily News – A former security contractor working at Gaza aid distribution sites backed by Israel and the United States said that he witnessed colleagues firing on unarmed Palestinians seeking food. According to his account, the shootings happened multiple times, including with machine guns, and targeted civilians who posed no threat.
In one particularly disturbing incident, he described a guard opening fire from a watchtower at a group of women, children, and elderly people who were moving too slowly away from a distribution point.
The organization running the operation, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), categorically denied the claims. In a statement, GHF insisted that no civilians had ever come under fire at their distribution sites. The group began operating in Gaza in late May, distributing limited food supplies after an 11-week total blockade by Israel that halted all aid entry into the territory.
The GHF system has faced widespread criticism for forcing Palestinians to travel through active combat zones to reach aid points. Since the program began, over 400 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces while attempting to access food aid, according to the United Nations and local medical sources. Israel contends that the system prevents aid from being diverted to Hamas.
The former contractor, who spoke under condition of anonymity, described another moment when a colleague fired 15 to 20 rounds into a crowd. He claimed a man collapsed motionless, and one of the contractors commented, “Damn, I think you got one,” followed by laughter. When he reported the incident to supervisors, he said they dismissed it, suggesting the man may have simply “tripped” or fainted from exhaustion.
GHF has dismissed the whistleblower as a “disgruntled former contractor” who was terminated for misconduct. The man denies this and shared payslips indicating he continued to receive payment for two weeks after leaving the job. He claimed to have worked at all four GHF distribution sites and described a troubling lack of oversight and rules.
According to his account, contractors were not given clear instructions or rules of engagement. One team leader allegedly told them: “If you feel threatened, shoot, shoot to kill and ask questions later.” He said the prevailing attitude among staff was one of lawlessness: “We’re going into Gaza so it’s no rules. Do what you want.”
“If someone is walking away and not being hostile, and we’re firing warning shots at them anyway—we’re in the wrong. That’s criminally negligent,” he said.
The contractor also claimed that all distribution sites were monitored by CCTV and that GHF’s insistence that no one was shot was “an absolute bare-faced lie.” GHF argued that any gunfire captured in footage was from Israeli military operations, not from its staff.
He further alleged that GHF team leaders dehumanized Palestinians, referring to them as “zombie hordes.” He described other instances where Palestinians were injured at the sites struck by stun grenade debris, sprayed with mace, or pushed into razor wire by the crowds.
In one case, he said a woman was hit in the head by the metal casing of a stun grenade fired into a crowd. “She dropped to the ground, completely limp. I don’t know if she was dead, but she was clearly unconscious.”
Earlier this week, more than 170 humanitarian organizations including Oxfam and Save the Children, called for GHF operations to be shut down, alleging that both Israeli forces and armed groups “routinely” open fire on Palestinians seeking aid.
Israel denies its troops intentionally fire on aid seekers and argues that the GHF’s aid system delivers food directly to civilians while avoiding Hamas interference. GHF claims to have distributed over 52 million meals in five weeks and says that other humanitarian agencies are unable to do the same due to looting and chaos.
The humanitarian crisis in Gaza stems from Israel’s ongoing military campaign launched in response to Hamas’s attack on October 7, 2023, which killed around 1,200 people and saw 251 taken hostage. Since then, at least 57,130 people have been killed in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.
