Anthony Aguilar, US Army veteran and ex-subcontractor for the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, witnessed a 12-year-old boy being shot at point-blank just moments after Aguilar had given him aid in Gaza.
In an interview with Israeli activist Offir Gutelzon and journalist Noga Tarnopolsky on the ‘UnXeptable’ podcast in the last week of July, Aguilar said that the 12-year-old boy, named Amir, approached him as a crowd of aid seekers was leaving. But moments after he had given him aid, the Israeli army opened fire, killing him.
Lt. Col. Anthony Aguilar, who served 25 years in the US Army Special Forces as a Green Beret, was hired as armed security to oversee the distribution of food for the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. But what at first seemed like a great cause later became involved in atrocities, with the systematic killing of civilians by Gaza Humanitarian Foundation contractors and Israeli military forces, he told the BBC. He therefore ended his contract on June 14 and became a whistleblower shortly after.
While the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation dismissed the testimony as false and claimed it was given because he was fired, the ex-Green Beret declared that he left the job intentionally, renouncing an extremely high wage because “nothing is going to pay for my values and my patriotism as an American.”
The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a US and Israeli-backed organization, started aid distribution in May 2025, and since then, almost a thousand Palestinians have been killed at collection points, according to a UN report.
The deadly threat to those seeking aid only worsens the starvation of the Palestinians in Gaza. Indeed, according to a report by the World Health Organization (WHO), more than 60 people died of starvation in June. This is not the first time starvation has been used as a tactic of war.
While many technologies of war have evolved, the strategy of intentionally eliminating basic survival needs remains all too common. According to the 2025 State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World report, approximately 673 million people experienced hunger in 2024, and nearly 70% of them lived in conflict zones. Is this a coincidence? Not according to human rights experts.
Want to learn more about the use of starvation in warfare? Then click through this gallery.