Organization denies AP report that US contractors at its Gaza food distribution sites used live ammo

JERUSALEM (AP) — The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, an Israeli-backed American organization running a new aid program in Gaza, on Thursday denied a report by The Associated Press that American contractors guarding the foundation’s aid sites inside Gaza were using live ammunition and stun grenades as hungry Palestinians scrambled for food.

AP’s story, released Wednesday, is based on accounts from two U.S. contractors who spoke anonymously because they were revealing internal operations of their employer. They said they were coming forward because they were disturbed by what they considered irresponsible and dangerous practices. It draws also on text messages, internal reports and videos filmed by one of the contractors.

The GHF said it launched an “immediate investigation” when it was first contacted by the AP for comment.

“Based on time-stamped video footage and sworn witness statements, we have concluded that the claims in the AP’s story are categorically false,” they wrote. “At no point were civilians under fire at a GHF distribution site,” the GHF wrote.

GHF, Israeli military disagree

In its statement Thursday, GHF said the fire heard in videos obtained by The AP came from Israel’s military, located “outside the immediate vicinity” of the aid sites themselves. It offered no evidence.

Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani, an army spokesman, told the AP Thursday that the army is “not within the sites” and “not in the immediate proximity to the sites.”

GHF said the gunfire in the videos obtained by the AP “was not directed at individuals, and no one was shot or injured.” The AP’s initial report included photos taken by the contractor showing a woman lying on a donkey cart after the contractor said she was hit in the head with a stun grenade, a Palestinian crying after the contractor said he was tear gassed and videos where the sound of live ammunition can be heard.

Men dressed in grey — people whom the contractor who filmed the video identified as his colleagues — can be seen lobbing multiple stun grenades toward crowds of Palestinians squeezed into a narrow, fenced-in lane leading to one of the sites. The stun grenades flash as they land, and Palestinians are engulfed in thick clouds. The contractors said they deployed pepper spray regularly.

The contractors also told the AP that Israel’s military was not stationed at the sites or in their immediate vicinity.

The GHF called the AP’s decision not to share the videos filmed by the contractor with them ahead of publication “troubling.” It claimed that the “primary source” in the story was a “disgruntled former contractor who was terminated for misconduct weeks before this article was published.”

AP decided not to share videos before publication

The AP reached out to the GHF, Safe Reach Solutions, the company subcontracted to handle logistics for GHF, and UG Solutions, the company that hired the security contractors, a week before publication.

The AP described the videos in detail in an email to UG but decided not to share the videos to protect sources’ safety during the lead-up to publication. The AP thoroughly vetted both contractors who provided testimony and verified the videos using geolocation, confirming they were filmed at the aid sites, and sought audio analysis from forensic experts who determined the gunfire came from within 50-60 meters in most videos and within 115 meters in one.

The AP has asked to visit the GHF sites numerous times and had not been granted access. Journalists have been unable to visit the GHF sites, located in Israeli military-controlled zones.

The GHF also said in its statement that it had already removed one contractor seen “shouting” in a video published by the AP.

In the case of one video, the contractor who filmed it said he witnessed two other contractors firing in the direction of Palestinians leaving the site after collecting their food. He said the contractors were egging each other on.

In the video, English-speaking men say “I think you hit one,” and “Hell yeah, boy!” after a burst of gunfire sounds, but who is shooting and what is being shot at is obscured. The contractor filming said he watched a man amid a group of Palestinians leaving the site drop to the ground, in the same direction of the bullets being fired.

The contractor who filmed the video says he doesn’t know whether anyone was hit or injured in that instance. GHF did not address that account in its statement Thursday but said “no one was shot or injured.”