Ex-US contractor says he saw IDF commit war crimes at aid sites; GHF rejects ‘false claims’

An American former contractor for the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) said in an interview that aired Friday that during his time working in Gaza, he saw Israeli soldiers and US contractors use “indiscriminate” force against civilians at aid sites, in what he described as “war crimes.”

However, on Wednesday, the GHF presented evidence that Aguilar had falsified a memo sent to his superiors; had sent messages to the team praising GHF’s work after the date he purportedly sent the memo; and had threatened to be the company’s “worst nightmare” while seeking to be rehired.

The interview came as international pressure and criticism mounted surrounding the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, as reports of Palestinians suffering and dying from hunger and from gunfire near GHF aid sites continue to grow daily.

In an interview with the BBC, former US special forces soldier and GHF aid worker Anthony Aguilar described the US- and Israel-backed aid mechanism as “amateur,” saying the GHF’s conduct was “inexperienced, untrained,” and it had “no idea how to conduct operations of this magnitude.”

“That would be my most benign assessment,” he said.

“My most frank assessment — I would say that they are criminal,” he continued.

“In my entire career, I have never witnessed the level of brutality and use of indiscriminate and unnecessary force against a civilian population, an unarmed, starving population,” he claimed.

“I have never witnessed that in all the places that I have been deployed to war, until I was in Gaza — at the hands of IDF and US contractors,” he said.

“Without question, I witnessed war crimes,” Aguilar claimed, saying they were committed “by the Israeli Defense Forces, without a doubt, using artillery rounds, mortar rounds, firing tank rounds into unarmed civilians.”

“That’s a war crime,” he said.

Aguilar praised the GHF until he was fired, then made threats

After the interview aired, the GHF released a statement saying Aguilar made “false claims with no basis in reality.”

“Upon hearing Mr. Aguilar’s claims, we immediately launched an investigation,” the GHF said. “The findings, based on cross-checking the timelines with video clips and on sources on the ground, indicate that these are false claims with no basis in reality.”

On Wednesday, the GHF held a press briefing in which spokesperson Chapin Fay shared the content of text messages that show Aguilar was “terminated for misconduct,” and did not, as he claimed, resign from the GHF’s security partner UG Solutions by choice.

After he pleaded to be rehired and was turned away, he “threatened UG Solutions with retribution,” Fay said, citing a message sent by Aguilar on June 15 in which he warned that he could be the company’s “best friend or worst nightmare.”

After the pleas failed to yield results, Aguilar turned to the press, Fay said.

The GHF spokesperson also accused Aguilar of falsifying a memo sent to his superiors in which he raised concerns about UG Solutions’ policies in Gaza.

While Aguilar claimed to have sent the memo on May 28, Fay shared metadata showing that he only sent it on June 21, after he was fired, and then backdated it to the previous month. The metadata also shows that he sent the memo to UG Solutions’ senior staff and to the press at the same time.

Additionally, Aguilar had shared messages with staff praising the GHF after he purportedly sent the memo raising alarms, Fay said, sharing screenshots of those messages, in which the contractor called it “a privilege and an honor” to work for the foundation.

The GHF also published a signed affidavit from UG Solutions staff members who worked with Aguilar and contradicted his claims.

“The issue of the safety of those visiting the aid distribution centers, as well as the Foundation’s employees, is a top priority, and we operate to high standards and will not allow them to be violated,” the GHF said, in its initial statement about the interview.

“We continue to focus on our core mission: to provide food to the residents of Gaza — safely, directly and without interruption, as we have been doing since the beginning of operations on May 27. Since then, we have distributed more than 92 million rations to the Palestinian residents of Gaza.”

GHF under scrutiny amid reports of Gazans killed

The GHF’s operations have been under intense scrutiny for the two months since its opening in late May, with daily reports of Palestinians killed while seeking aid at GHF sites, including several on Saturday.

Israel, which accuses Hamas of hoarding aid, has accused the terror group of attacking Gazan aid seekers near GHF sites and falsifying death tolls.

The IDF says that its soldiers only fire “warning shots” to control the crowds, though it has admitted that its fire has killed “several” Palestinians at aid sites.

The GHF consistently denies that there have been deadly shootings at its sites, and says that Hamas agitators have attacked and threatened its staff and have tried to cause unrest at the aid sites.

The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry says more than 1,000 people have been killed near GHF sites since May, adding to the 60,000 total people the group says have been killed in Gaza since the war began, though the toll cannot be verified and does not differentiate between civilians and fighters.