Former US soldier tells BBC Israeli troops fired on civilians seeking aid
Speaking to the BBC in an interview on Friday, Lieutenant-Colonel Anthony Aguilar said he had never seen such "brutality and use of indiscriminate and unnecessary force against a civilian population, an unarmed, starving population".
"I've never witnessed that in all the places I've been deployed to war, until I was in Gaza at the hands of the [Israeli forces] and US contractors," he said.
"Without question, I witnessed war crimes by the Israeli Defense Forces, without a doubt. Using artillery rounds, mortar rounds, firing tank rounds into unarmed civilians is a war crime."
Aguilar, who is a veteran of the US Army's Green Berets, said he saw Israeli troops and US contractors firing live ammunition, artillery, mortar rounds and tank shells at starving, unarmed Palestinians awaiting aid.
New MEE newsletter: Jerusalem Dispatch
Sign up to get the latest insights and analysis on Israel-Palestine, alongside Turkey Unpacked and other MEE newsletters
He recalled one incident in which a Merkava tank fired at civilians, destroying a car as it drove away from the aid site.
Aguilar added that he witnessed mortar rounds being launched into crowds "to keep them controlled".
He described those in charge of the GHF initiative as "amateur, inexperienced, and untrained", noting that they had "no idea of how to conduct operations at this magnitude".
'I witnessed war crimes.'
Anthony Aguilar, a former US Green Beret, told the BBC that he witnessed Israeli forces firing artillery shells and mortar rounds into crowds of unarmed, starving Palestinian civilians at aid distribution sites in Gaza pic.twitter.com/Yed5brxJ3M — Middle East Eye (@MiddleEastEye) July 26, 2025
More than 100 humanitarian organisations warned on Wednesday that "mass famine" has been spreading across the Gaza Strip since Israel blocked humanitarian aid from entering in early March and began providing inadequate aid through the controversial GHF at the end of May.
Middle East Eye reported on Tuesday that renowned famine expert Professor Alex de Waal accused Israel of "genocidal starvation" of Palestinians in Gaza through its ongoing deadly siege on the enclave.
With basic food items disappearing from markets and families going days without enough to survive, scenes of people collapsing from hunger and sheer exhaustion have become increasingly common on Gaza's streets.
At least 127 Palestinians, including more than 85 children, have died of starvation since Israel's blockade resumed in March, according to the Palestinian health ministry.
Meanwhile, more than 1,000 Palestinians have been killed while seeking aid at distribution sites operated by the GHF, manned by Israeli soldiers and US security contractors.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The National
43 minutes ago
- The National
UK must drop conditions for Palestine recognition
Keir Starmer is coming under pressure to recognise Palestine without his scheduled delay until December as insider described the decision making process as a formality. With more than half the public now hostile to Israel's conduct of the war, the UK government should see it has the scope to formalise the decision. Public disapproval of Israel's war in Gaza is growing, a new YouGov poll found. Just over half of Britons (51 per cent) consider Israel's actions to be unjustified, but just one in five believe that it is (21 per cent). 'In practice the decision is taken,' said Sir Vincent Fean, a former Consul General to East Jerusalem, who is urging the prime minister to drop conditionally. "Recognition of Palestine is an opportunity – and a threat or punishment for no one." Mr Fean believed this was likely to impact the UK government's approach to issues beyond recognition, such as "ensuring Israeli policy in Gaza and the West Bank changes," he told The National. The UK has said it is ready to recognise Palestine in September but has given Israel weeks to meet certain conditions. Objections have been raised from all sides to Prime Minister Keir Starmer's pledge to recognise Palestine at the United National General Assembly in September. Mr Starmer told Israel that he would do so if Tel Aviv does not take steps towards ending the war and restarting a peace process by then. Many believe that recognition will go ahead, as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu continues to reject the proposal of a peace process. Foreign Office assessment The assessment on whether or not Israel has met the Prime Minister's conditions is likely to be made by the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office in late September ahead of UNGA. The Cabinet Office being consulted about their conclusions, Mr Fean told The National. The decision cannot be challenged as it was taken using prerogative powers at the government's disposal. 'There won't be a committee, there is no requirement for parliament to decide,' he said. British officials are working on the 'nuts and bolts' of judging how Israel would meet the criteria set out by Mr Starmer 'and how that would be agreed or disagreed', sources told The National. Legal advisers said the resolution on recognising Palestinian statehood can be put forward to the UN General Assembly, a vote is undertaken 'and that's it'. Yet Whitehall insiders accept that unless there is a change of government in Israel or a 'change of heart from Netanyahu in the way he's prosecuting the war', they will not fulfil the British conditions. 'This is an attempt to get the peace process back on track, but it's quite clear that the Israelis don't want to go there,' a Whitehall source said. 'So Palestinian state recognition is going to happen.' With relations between Israel and Britain at possibly their lowest ebb, it is understood there will be no visit of any UK ministers to the country in the coming period. Hostage pleas Opponents of the decision include the families British hostages in Gaza, who fear that it would give Hamas an incentive to prolong the war. Members from the four families met with the FCDO on Thursday evening to raise their concerns. 'It was clear from the meeting last night that the British government's policy will not help the hostages, and could even hurt them,' said their lawyer Adam Wagner KC. 'It was made obvious to us at the meeting that … in deciding whether to go ahead with recognition, the release or otherwise of the hostages would play no part', he wrote in a statement. Political question The Labour government said it would be guided by international law in its foreign policy making. But the decision to recognise Palestine is being framed as a political question, with Business Minister Gareth Thomas telling Sky News that 'recognition of another state is a political judgment'. Nonetheless, it is likely that Mr Starmer will 'want to have legal cover' for the recognition with lawyers from the foreign office working up a 'cold, technical approach to it,' former diplomat Edmund Fitton-Brown told The National. 'They will likely set up a mechanism which will enable them to say that the British conditions have not been met,' he said. The former ambassador to Yemen suggested that UNGA was the 'least problematic forum for the upgrade' where many heads of state or government will be present in September, including Mr Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron and potentially Mahmoud Abbas from the PA – if the US allows him to enter. This is not lost on critics. 'The government usually tries to shut down debate by characterising political issues as legal questions (immigration, Chagos Islands),' said Shadow Attorney General Lord David Wolfson, writing on social media. 'It's now trying to argue that recognition of a foreign state, which has always been and universally as a legal question, is only a political issue.' Earlier this week, peers and leading lawyers opposing recognition wrote to Attorney General Lord Richard Hermer, to warn that the move could break international law. Mr Hermer's office would not comment on whether or not he had advised the Government on recognition, citing a long standing convention. Conditions questioned Mr Starmer also faces pressure to recognise Palestine at UNGA but with the conditions he set out this week. The Bishop of Southwark, who is the House of Lords Lead Bishop for the Middle East said it was 'disappointing' that the recognition had been used as a 'bargaining chip.' 'The UK has a particular historical and moral duty to recognise the State of Palestine, and it is therefore disappointing that this recognition has been made conditional,' the letter said. 'The right of the Palestinian people to self-determination is not a bargaining chip, and there can be no conditions placed on it,' he wrote, in a letter cosigned by other Church of England Bishops, including Stephen Cottrell Archbishop of York. We urge the Government to move ahead with recognition of Palestine regardless of the facts on the ground.
Khaleej Times
2 hours ago
- Khaleej Times
US President Trump orders firing of labour official over 'rigged' jobs data
President Donald Trump said Friday (August 1) he has ordered the firing of a key economic official, accusing her of manipulating employment data for political reasons after a new report showed cracks in the US jobs market. US job growth missed expectations in July, Labor Department data showed, and revisions to hiring figures in recent months brought them to the weakest levels since the Covid-19 pandemic. Without providing evidence, Trump lashed out at the department's commissioner of labor statistics, writing on social media that the jobs numbers "were RIGGED in order to make the Republicans, and ME, look bad." In a separate post on his Truth Social platform, he charged that Commissioner Erika McEntarfer had "faked" jobs data to boost Democrats' chances of victory in the recent presidential election. "McEntarfer said there were only 73,000 Jobs added (a shock!) but, more importantly, that a major mistake was made by them, 258,000 Jobs downward, in the prior two months," Trump said, referring to latest data for July. "Similar things happened in the first part of the year, always to the negative," Trump said, insisting that the world's biggest economy was "booming" under his leadership. He later told reporters "we need people that we can trust," accusing the economic official of inflating hiring figures under former president Joe Biden's administration. 'Dangerous precedent' The US added 73,000 jobs last month, while the unemployment rate rose to 4.2 percent from 4.1 per cent, said the Department of Labour earlier Friday. Hiring numbers for May were revised down from 144,000 to 19,000. The figure for June was shifted from 147,000 to 14,000. This was notably lower than job creation levels in recent years. During the pandemic, the economy lost jobs. The employment data points to challenges in the key labor market as companies took a cautious approach in hiring and investment while grappling with Trump's sweeping — and rapidly changing — tariffs this year. The numbers also pile pressure on the central bank as it mulls the best time to cut interest rates. With tariff levels climbing since the start of the year, both on imports from various countries and on sector-specific products such as steel, aluminum and autos, many firms have faced higher business costs. Some are now passing them along to consumers. William Beach, who previously held McEntarfer post at the Bureau of Labor Statistics, warned that her firing "sets a dangerous precedent and undermines the statistical mission of the Bureau." The National Association for Business Economics (NABE) condemned her dismissal, saying large revisions in jobs numbers "reflect not manipulation, but rather the dwindling resources afforded to statistical agencies." "Firing the head of a key government agency because you don't like the numbers they report, which come from surveys using long established procedures, is what happens in authoritarian countries, not democratic ones," slammed Larry Summers, former US Treasury secretary under Democratic president Bill Clinton. 'Gamechanger' Heather Long, chief economist at the Navy Federal Credit Union, said Friday's jobs report was a "gamechanger." "The labor market is deteriorating quickly," said Long, noting that of the growth in July, "75 per cent of those jobs were in one sector: health care." "The economy needs certainty soon on tariffs," Long said. "The longer this tariff whiplash lasts, the more likely this weak hiring environment turns into layoffs." It remains unclear when the dust will settle, with Trump ordering the reimposition of steeper tariffs on scores of economies late Thursday, which are set to take effect in a week. A sharp weakening in the labor market could push the Federal Reserve toward slashing interest rates sooner to shore up the economy. On Friday, the two Fed officials who voted this week against the central bank's decision to keep rates unchanged warned that standing pat risks further damaging the economy. Both Fed Vice Chair for Supervision Michelle Bowman and Governor Christopher Waller argued that the inflationary effects of tariffs were temporary. They added in separate statements that the bank should focus on fortifying the economy to avert further weakening in the labor market. Putting off an interest rate cut "could result in a deterioration in the labor market and a further slowing in economic growth," Bowman said.
Middle East Eye
5 hours ago
- Middle East Eye
Finland's president says he will recognise Palestinian state as Israel and Palestine have 'suffered'
Finland's president Alexander Stubb says he is ready to approve recognition of a Palestinian state if the Finnish government decides to make such a proposal in a post on X on Thursday. Stubb claimed that both Israel and Palestine were suffereing: "In Israel, there is a real threat of violence. Hamas, many other terrorist organizations, and several states still do not recognize Israel's existence. At the same time, the situation in Gaza is inhumane. Children are dying of hunger as food aid does not reach them. Civilians who have gone to collect food have been shot", he said. He said that it was important for Arab countries to recognise Israel, saying: "It is important that the Arab countries that have not yet recognized Israel do so. The Palestinian Authority has already recognized Israel. Hamas does not represent Palestine".
