US contractors killing Palestinians seeking aid at Israeli distribution sites in Gaza: Report
‘They were actually shooting at people, they weren't shooting at combatants,’ eyewitness tells CBS News
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ISTANBUL
American subcontractors are firing at civilians seeking aid at Israeli aid distribution sites along with the Israeli army, the US' CBS News reported from an eyewitness on Friday.
An employee of a US logistics company that works with the highly controversial US- and Israeli-supported Gaza Humanitarian Foundation in the Gaza Strip spoke to CBS News on condition of anonymity about what he witnessed in the field.
“It took me two or three days to realize that they were actually shooting at people, they weren't shooting at combatants,” he said, referring to the American personnel.
Since May 27, Israel has launched a separate US-backed aid distribution initiative through the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, bypassing the UN and international humanitarian agencies. The move has been widely rejected by the global relief community, with officials in Gaza calling the scheme a “death trap.”
The eyewitness, sharing videos showing “indiscriminate” gunfire by the army and American security personnel at mass crowds of hungry people, said “there was not a single occasion when there was no shooting” during the several weeks that he was present at the sites.
He said that some of the American personnel “would often boast about how many people they've killed."
The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation denied that any killings took place at its sites, whether by contractors or the army.
According to Gaza’s Health Ministry, at least 2,036 people have so far been killed by the Israeli army while trying to reach food at the aid distribution sites, with over 15,064 others wounded since May 27.
Israel has killed over 62,000 Palestinians in Gaza since October 2023. The military campaign has devastated the enclave, which is facing famine.
Last November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.
