Gaza Herald– A former U.S. Army Special Forces officer has come forward with harrowing testimony, revealing that an emaciated Palestinian child was shot dead by Israeli forces just minutes after receiving aid in southern Gaza.
Anthony Aguilar, who resigned from the controversial U.S.- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) last month, recounted the killing of the young boy, Amir, during a podcast interview on Monday. Aguilar had been stationed at a GHF distribution point on May 28 when the tragedy unfolded.
“This young boy walked barefoot, clothed in rags that barely hung from his skeletal frame, after trekking 12 kilometers to reach us,” Aguilar said. “He thanked us for the crumbs he received. , Then, he knelt beside me, touched my face with his frail, dirty hands, and kissed me. He said, ‘Thank you,’ in English. Then he walked back toward the crowd.”
But Amir never made it home
“Within minutes, the Israeli military opened fire on the crowd,” Aguilar said, describing the onslaught of bullets, tear gas, and stun grenades. “Amir was among the civilians who were gunned down as they fled in terror. He was just a child.”
Aguilar’s account adds to growing evidence that Israeli forces are deliberately targeting civilians during aid distributions. Since GHF began operations in Gaza in late May, over 1,000 Palestinians have reportedly been killed while attempting to access food, according to the United Nations.
Last month, a Palestinian survivor likened the experience of chasing food under fire to the deadly contest in the TV series Squid Game. Israeli troops have reportedly admitted to shooting unarmed civilians under direct orders from superiors.
The head of UNRWA, Philippe Lazzarini, condemned the GHF’s operations, calling Gaza’s starvation “constructed and deliberate.” In a scathing statement, he accused Israel of using aid as a tool of warfare. “This system serves military and political goals. It’s not saving lives, it’s ending them,” he said. He also criticized Israeli-approved airdrops as a costly distraction from meaningful humanitarian access.
Israel has rejected these accusations, continuing to claim that Hamas diverts aid, a claim unsupported by recent U.S. intelligence findings.
Aguilar, shaken by what he witnessed, directly addressed American and Israeli audiences: “I’ve met these people. I’ve seen their suffering. These civilians are starving, and they’re being hunted. We treated ISIS prisoners in Syria with more dignity than we show the people of Gaza.”
Meanwhile, Gaza’s humanitarian nightmare deepens. A new report from the UN-backed Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) confirmed that famine thresholds have been reached across most of the territory. One in three children in Gaza City is now acutely malnourished.
The death of Amir a child who walked for hours to receive scraps, said “thank you,” and was then gunned down stands as a chilling symbol of Gaza’s descent into engineered starvation and state-sanctioned brutality. Without urgent international action, many more will follow him.
