Israel's aid distribution program being run like the Hunger Games, says whistleblower

WASHINGTON

An Israeli aid distribution program for the starving residents of the besieged Gaza Strip is being run like a dystopian novel, a former security contractor for the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) said Thursday.

"The best way that I can describe how the Palestinians reach the site to receive aid is akin to the Hunger Games, survival of the fittest, whomever can run the fastest and the furthest to get to the site first gets the aid," Anthony Aguilar, a US Army veteran, said in a social media video posted to X by Sen. Bernie Sanders.

"The sites themselves, in terms of the process for having the Palestinians leave the distribution site, was done through shooting at them, hitting them with pepper spray and tear gas, firing rubber bullets from shotguns at them. And this isn't something that happened just once or twice. This happened every day at every distribution, at every site," he added.

Israeli forces have killed over 1,000 Palestinians at GHF-operated aid sites since May, the UN announced earlier this month.

Aguilar emphasized that his recollection of his time working for the Israeli-run and US-supported GHF "is not hyperbole. This is not Hamas propaganda." He said "starving" Palestinian aid seekers have to travel eight to 12 kilometers (5 to 7.5 miles) to reach aid sites, often without shoes, as they traverse "an active war zone."

"On two occasions, I bore witness to a Palestinian man in one instance and a Palestinian woman in a second instance that were carrying their dead children. And these children didn't die from gunshot wounds or from sickness or disease. They died of starvation. I've seen it with my own eyes," he said.

Aguilar said he "witnessed indiscriminate shooting, inappropriate use of force, dereliction from the leadership" and was ignored when he brought the matters to his superiors.

According to the latest data from the Health Ministry, the death toll from starvation in Gaza since October 2023 has reached 154, including 89 children.

Palestinian officials say that a minimum of 500 aid trucks are needed per day to meet the needs of the territory’s 2.4 million population.

The Israeli army has pursued a brutal offensive on Gaza following the Oct. 7, 2023 cross-border attack led by Hamas that killed some 1,2000 people. Israel's campaign has killed over 60,200 Palestinians and devastated the enclave amid devastating shortages of food, medicine and daily necessities.