- AP News has reported that US contractors in the controversial Gaza Humanitarian Foundation program are using live ammunition and stun grenades on Palestinians.
- AP news has reported that many US contractors were unqualified, unvetted and heavily armed, marking potentially direct US involvement in the Gaza genocide.
American contractors guarding aid distribution sites in Gaza are using live ammunition and stun grenades as desperate starving Palestinians scramble for food, according to two US contractors who spoke to The Associated Press.
AP News reported that two US contractors, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said they were coming forward because they were disturbed by what they considered dangerous and irresponsible practices.
They said their colleagues routinely threw stun grenades and pepper spray in the direction of the Palestinians, with one of the contractors saying that 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 felt someone had been hit.
One contractor said: “There are innocent people being hurt, badly, needlessly.”
In one of the videos the contractors shared with AP, it appears to show heavily armed American security contractors at one of the aid sites in Gaza, where a burst of gunfire erupted nearby with at least 15 gunshots.
One contractor can be heard saying: “Whoo! Whoo!”.
While another one said: “Hell, yeah boy”.
The contractor who took the video told AP that he saw other US contractors shooting at the direction of Palestinians who had just finished collecting their food and were departing.
The men shot both from a tower above the site and from atop of the mound, he said. The shooting began because contractors wanted to disperse the crowd, he said, but it was unclear why they continued shooting as people were walking away.
The anonymous contractors said the security staff hired were often unqualified, unvetted, heavily armed and seemingly had an open license to do whatever they wished.
The testimonies from the two anonymous US contractors in Gaza along with their videos, offer a glimpse of the reality inside the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a newly created and secretive American organisation backed by Israel and the US to feed the Gaza strip’s population as a replacement of the old UN aid system that was far more efficient with no need for armed guards at aid centres.
Journalists have been unable to enter the GHF sites to confirm the stories as Israel does not and has not allowed a single foreign journalist into Gaza since the genocide began on October 7.
Palestinians have said that Israeli forces have opened fire almost every day towards crowds on roads that were heading towards the aid distribution sites.
It was also reported last week that some aid going into Gaza was laced with an opioid, a highly addictive drug that could cause serious health issues.
170 charities have called for the US-Israel backed GHF to end after it was reported that more than 500 Palestinians had been killed while seeking aid, since the controversial aid program began in May.
The outcry and plight is there for all to see. A Palestinian who spoke to one of the contractors said: “We have come here to get food for our families, we have nothing.
“Why does the [Israeli] army shoot at us? Why do you shoot at us?”
The contractor who took the videos spoke about the dangers of the GHF continuing.
He said: “If operations continue in this manner, innocent aid seekers will continue to be needlessly injured. And possibly killed.”
What is the US involvement?
The US has provided hundreds of billions of dollars of military aid to Israel since the genocide in Gaza first began, but has withheld from directly getting involved in the Gaza genocide itself.
If the reports are accurate this would mark the first verifiable instance in which the US has been directly involved in the killing of innocent civilians in Gaza through contractors.
This could mark a significant milestone in US foreign policy in the Middle East as the chances of confrontation between Hamas, Palestinian factions and US contractors is significantly high and would mean American lives could be at risk, something that could lead to escalation if any American contractors are injured or killed.
