Guard at US-backed Gaza aid centres says colleagues fired on hungry Palestinian civilians | BBC News

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A former security contractor for Gaza's controversial new Israel- and US-backed aid distribution sites has told the BBC he witnessed colleagues opening fire with machine guns on hungry Palestinian civilians who had posed no threat. In one such incident he said he witnessed a man in the crowd fall motionless to the ground and a guard who had been shooting laughed about it. On another occasion he said a guard opened fire from a watchtower with a machine gun because a group of women, children and elderly people was moving too slowly away from the site. When asked to respond the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) said the allegations were categorically false. They referred us to a statement saying that no civilians ever came under fire at the GHF distribution sites. The GHF began its operations in Gaza at the end of May, distributing limited aid from several sites in southern and central Gaza. That followed an 11-week total blockade of Gaza by Israel during which no food entered the territory. The system has been widely criticised for forcing vast numbers of people to walk through active combat zones to a handful of sites. Since the GHF started up, Israeli forces have killed more than 400 Palestinians trying to retrieve food aid from its sites, the UN and local doctors say. Israel says the new distribution system stops aid going to Hamas. Describing the incident at one of the GHF sites - in which he said guards fired on a group of Palestinians - the former contractor said: "As that happened, another contractor on location, standing on the berm overlooking the exit, opened up with 15 to 20 shots of repetitive weapons fire at the crowd. "A Palestinian man dropped to the ground motionless. And then the other contractor who was standing there was like, 'damn, I think you got one'. And then they laughed about it." The contractor, who spoke to us on condition of anonymity, said GHF managers had brushed off his report as a coincidence, suggesting that the Palestinian man could have "tripped" or been "tired and passed out". The GHF claimed the man who made these allegations is a "disgruntled former contractor" who they had terminated for misconduct, which he denies. Reeta Chakrabarti presents BBC News at Ten reporting by Lucy Williamson. Subscribe here: http://bit.ly/1rbfUog For more news, analysis and features visit: www.bbc.com/news #BBCNews