This photo shows Palestinians behind gates before entering a food distribution site operated by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation in May 2025, shortly after the start of the organization's distribution sites. (AP Photo)
Tel Aviv, July 26 (RHC)-- A former U.S. security contractor who worked for the Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) has made shocking confessions about the organization’s treatment of Palestinian civilians seeking food at aid distribution sites in Gaza.
In an interview aired by Israel’s Channel 12, the unnamed contractor said he witnessed extreme and unjustified violence by GHF personnel, including American security guards. “In all my military service, I have never seen such use of force against unarmed civilians. I will not take part in it now,” he said.
He recalled one incident in which a Palestinian woman collapsed after a GHF staff member threw a stun grenade directly at her. In another, a man collecting food from the ground was pepper-sprayed despite posing no threat.
The former guard also described how American guards opened fire at and around civilians to forcibly disperse them after aid distributions. “While the Palestinians were finishing collecting the aid at the site, the American security guards began shooting at them — shooting at their feet, shooting at the earthen embankments — to make them leave.” “The aid centers treated the population very badly and put them in danger,” he added.
The former staffer said the GHF’s so-called aid distribution system “can’t be fixed — it has to be put an end to.” He also suggested that the United Nations, if adequately resourced, could deliver aid far more effectively and humanely.
Gaza’s Government Media Office said in a statement that the “shocking confessions” of the U.S. security guard serve as “irrefutable evidence of the criminal and inhumane nature of this organization.” It said the Israeli-backed group “hides behind the guise of humanitarian work while in reality playing a security and military role in areas of forced displacement, under clear intelligence and security agendas.”
The office reiterated that GHF does not represent any form of genuine humanitarian or relief work and violates fundamental principles of humanitarian action. “It is a tool of extortion, an assault on dignity, a direct violation of international humanitarian law, and a blatant breach of the most basic human rights.”
Earlier this month, two U.S. contractors guarding the GHF sites made similar testimonies to the Associated Press—on condition of anonymity— saying their colleagues were using live ammunition and stun grenades as desperate Palestinians scrambled for food. They said American guards routinely lobbed stun grenades and pepper spray toward the crowds. One contractor said bullets were fired in all directions — into the air, into the ground, and at times toward civilians.
These confessions have added to growing scrutiny of US-backed aid operations in Gaza, many of which have so far failed to protect civilians amid Israel’s genocide.
The UN Human Rights Office said on Tuesday that as of 13 July, at least "875 people [were] killed in Gaza while trying to get food; 674 of them were killed in the vicinity of GHF sites.” And between May 27th and July 21th, it said, Israeli forces killed at least 1,054 Palestinians at the food points.
[ SOURCE: PRESS TV and ASSOCIATED PRESS ]
