Amir yelled at a Gaza distribution point for GHF aid in a desperate need while walking in barefoot and wearing tattered clothing. To collect food, he had walked 12 kilometers (7. 5 miles). The Israeli army then opened fire moments after the frail boy received his small aid packets.
In a recent interview, United States Army veteran Anthony Aguilar defended that claim. The former GHF contractor has been outspoken about the aid scheme supported by the US and Israel.
On Thursday, there was a growing uproar over the GHF and the accounts Aguilar has been disclosing to US lawmakers and journalists.
Amir approached him as a crowd of aid seekers began to leave an aid distribution site, according to Aguilar in an interview with Israeli activist Offir Gutelzon and journalist Noga Tarnopolsky on the UnXeptable podcast this week.
Amir, a young child that appears to be no older than 10 or 12, was a boy Aguilar identified as having shared photos with him.
I pleaded with him to come to me as soon as he raised his hand. Come here, I told you. And he says, “Shukran, I’m sorry, thank you,” as Aguilar recalled as he reached out and held my hand.
However, Amir and the crowd of aid seekers were quickly thrown into the air and shot into the ground as “pepper spray, tear gas, stun grenades and bullets” were being gathered, according to Aguilar, who said their meeting was abruptly interrupted.
Aguilar claimed he could hear machinegun fire from the Israeli army as the “last group of people,” which included women, children, small children, children, children, children, and babies, left the location.
“They’re shooting to control the population along the Morag Corridor,” they said. And as they are doing that, they fire into this crowd, killing Palestinians, civilians, and people who are wounded, he said.
“And Amir was one of them.” Amir walked 12 kilometers for food, received only scraps, thanked us for it, and passed away, he claimed.
Since the GHF’s operations began in late May, according to health authorities, more than 1, 000 Palestinians have died seeking aid. Prior to the UN-backed system, which had previously overseen aid deliveries to the region, the group had previously claimed.
Since the war broke out on October 7, 2023, at least 60, 249 Palestinians have died in Gaza overall.
“Daggered a bloodbath”
Israel has argued that Hamas cannot evade stealing aid from Gaza because the GHF’s distribution requires aid seekers to travel far distances.
However, a recent internal analysis by the US Agency for International Development revealed that Hamas has not provided any evidence of widespread aid diversion. Last week, Israeli military officials in a similar situation told The New York Times that they lacked any proof Hamas was systematically stealing aid.
Israel has acknowledged some instances where its forces have opened fire on crowds close to distribution centers despite the country’s claim that it does not intentionally target civilians.
Israel last week agreed to allow organizations other than the GHF to once again provide aid to Gaza in the midst of growing international pressure and rumors of rising starvation deaths.
At least 154 people have died of malnutrition since the war started, including 89 children, according to the Gaza-based Ministry of Health, in the wake of what a global monitor described as the “worst-case scenario of famine” is permeating the country.
The UN has warned that the flow of aid is still severely underdeveloped, with the deliveries causing even more instances of deadly desperation. At least 15 aid workers have been killed since early on Thursday, according to local health sources.
Aguilar was fired as a disgruntled former employee, according to a statement from the GHF, who claimed he was “programed for misconduct, pleads for rehired, and threatened repercussions, and is now spreading false allegations.” However, the organization is still receiving more and more international condemnation.
Jean-Noel Barrot, the French minister of foreign and european affairs, claimed on Thursday that Gaza has been “generated a bloodbath.”
Barrot argued that the “militarized distribution of humanitarian aid… is scandalous and needs to end.”
Source: Aljazeera
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