Since the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation first began operating nearly three months ago, the U.N. says hundreds of Palestinians have been shot and killed by Israel Defense Forces and foreign military contractors at or near its aid sites. CBS News spoke to a new eyewitness who said it’s not just the IDF firing at Palestinians, but also personnel hired through American subcontractors to secure GHF sites.
The witness, who we will refer to as Mike, asked CBS News to conceal his identity because he fears reprisal. When Mike was hired by an American logistics company to drive aid trucks in Israel, he said he had no idea he’d be working with the GHF inside Gaza.
The U.S. and Israeli-backed GHF was established to replace the United Nations as the main distributor of aid back in May. In late June, the U.S. State Department approved $30 million for the group, calling its work “absolutely incredible.”
Mike secretly recorded videos and shared them with CBS News. You can hear gunfire in the videos, which Mike says was fired at Palestinians seeking aid.
“It took me two or three days to realize that they were actually shooting at people, they weren’t shooting at combatants,” he said.
When asked by Patta whether he thought they were warning shots, Mike said, “No, it’s indiscriminate.” He said both the IDF and American security personnel were shooting.
We don’t see who is shooting on the videos Mike gave us. But he said there was not a single occasion he observed when there was no shooting, and he was at the brightly illuminated sites on average five days a week for several weeks. CBS News has seen his work schedule, and metadata from his cell phone confirms the dates and times he was in Gaza.
More than 1,800 Palestinians have died trying to get food, at least 1,000 in the vicinity of GHF sites, according to the U.N.’s Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. Since GHF started operating aid sites in May, CBS News has reported on near-daily shootings at or near GHF sites, and former U.S. security contractors have spoken out about witnessing gunfire against Palestinian crowds in interviews with news outlets, including The Associated Press.
Mike said Palestinians would gather near the sites hours before they opened to be the first to grab food. He told CBS News he has “never seen a crowd of people behave with such intensity and such desperation.”
When asked about the worst thing he experienced, Mike said he was once tasked by the security contractors with cleaning up human and animal remains adjacent to one site while on the job, due to the foul smell emitted by those remains.
“I struggle to talk about it,” he said. “I even feel a bit clammy, and I can feel my chest beating harder. I just shut down really.”
GHF says the allegations that their contractors have shot aid-seekers and mishandled their remains are “categorically false” and “utterly baseless.” They criticized CBS News’ refusal to provide them with more detailed information about Mike.
Mike said some of the Americans hired to secure the GHF sites made him feel uncomfortable.
“They would often boast about how many people they’ve killed, if they’ve managed to shoot animals,” he said. “Or how many birds they’d shot because they were bragging about how good their aim was.”
Mike is home now and won’t be going back.
When asked why he’s sharing his experience, he said, “It just wouldn’t sit right with me if I didn’t say something. These atrocities don’t have to happen.”
GHF told CBS News that their contractors do not fire on civilians, nor, they say, has anyone been killed by gunfire at a GHF site, not even within sight of a foundation site. And they say they have “never encountered any situation involving unclaimed bodies” at or near their sites.
The IDF has categorically denied allegations that it deliberately fires at Palestinian civilians, but told CBS News it is investigating recent reports of harm being done to civilians approaching GHF sites, and said any deviation from the law will result in further action.
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