‘Never witnessed this level of destruction, dehumanisation,’ says GHF whistleblower
As we’ve reported, former GHF guard Anthony Aguilar has spoken to Al Jazeera about the “abhorrent” and “unnecessary” deadly tactics he witnessed firsthand at the aid sites run by the controversial US- and Israel-backed contractor.
He explained that the Israeli military controls the crowd “using automatic machinegun fire, artillery rounds, mortar rounds, and at times, tank fire from the Merkava tank against unarmed, starving civilians, women, children, the disabled”.
When the aid seekers are allowed to enter the site, they’re “released in one giant, massive wave, unorganised, chaotic stampeding”, while the Israeli military shoots at their feet, over their heads and sometimes into the crowd to control them.
He also described how the Israeli military would then fire so-called “warning shots” at Palestinians using machineguns.
“Never in my military career, 25 years of service in multiple combat locations around the world, have I seen anyone use a ‘warning shot’ from a belt-fed machinegun,” Aguilar said.
“I have never witnessed something to this level of destruction, this level of dehumanisation of a population, and the abhorrent, unnecessary escalation of force and unnecessary force used against an unarmed population.”
‘We’re like dogs chasing after a bone’
The air drops taking place over Gaza are supposed to be a welcome relief but often, the pallets of air-dropped aid are damaged when they crash on landing.
People are forced to sift through sand for bits of food and scrape whatever they can off the ground. Palestinians say they feel completely humiliated by the process.
“We’re like dogs chasing after a bone. Why do they throw things like that? We don’t want them to help us in that way?” Rana Attia, a displaced Palestinian in Gaza, told Al Jazeera.
Eslam al-Telbany, also displaced by Israel’s war, said she ran after the aid dropped from the sky.
“I went and my children prayed that I returned with food. They haven’t eaten or drunk anything for two days. “This breaks my heart that they’re waiting for me to feed them”, she said as she broke down in tears.
Palestinians in the grip of a starvation crisis clamber to get some food
Gaza death toll rises
The Palestinian Health Ministry is reporting that at least 98 people were killed and 1,079 wounded by Israeli attacks in the last 24 hours. The figure includes 39 people killed while waiting for food aid.
With that, the death toll from the attacks since October 2023 has gone up to 60,430, with 148,722 wounded.
Palestinians in Gaza trawl through rubbish dumps in search of food
Due to Israel’s ongoing attacks and its policy of starvation in Gaza, many Palestinians are forced to turn to rubbish dumps to find food
