1. United States
2. Pa.
3. Letter

Please push the Israeli government to allow in more aid. On Sunday, 120 trucks worth of aid moved into Gaza. At least as much was expected to arrive on Monday — but it's not nearly enough. Before the war started, more than 500 trucks per day was the norm. Regarding the so-called Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), which you have supported, have you heard the testimony of Lieutenant-Colonel Anthony Aguilar, former Green Beret and recent contractor for GHF? He said, "Without question I witnessed war crimes." "I know what I saw,” Aguilar told a senator in a taped conversation. “I'm a man of integrity. I've served my country and I've proven that and I can be trusted.” He said on numerous occasions he saw Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) firing into the crowds of Palestinians seeking aid—not just with rifles or machine guns, but with tanks, artillery, mortars and missiles. “Not because they were combatants or because they were hostile or because they were Hamas,” Aguilar said, “but simply as a means to control the crowd.” “They [Palestinians] get shot at by the IDF, and unfortunately, they get shot at by American contractors on the ground.” There are a total of just four food distribution sites, as compared to the 400 previously run in Gaza by the UN, and all of them are in Southern Gaza. That means no GHF aid is reaching North Gaza, and people living in the North aren’t allowed to travel south to attempt to get any food. And people who are able to move from certain parts of the south to reach aid aren’t allowed to return home after. Aguilar called this Israel’s “displacement strategy.” According to him, Gaza is receiving just three percent of the amount of aid it was getting when the UN controlled distribution. Not just that, but three of the four sites are located within 200 meters of each other in an area where the IDF is conducting an active offensive military operation. Aguilar, "[W]e established Secure Distribution Sites to deliver and distribute humanitarian aid-not only co-located with Israeli combat units, but located in an active combat zone. (...) [T]hat is a war crime." Aguilar described the food sites as a “free-for-all,” with thousands of Palestinians competing for the small amount of aid allowed in by GHF. “It became a survival of the fittest. The Gaza Olympics. Hunger Games. Dystopian to the 10th degree.” Despite rumors by the IDF — repeated by certain senators — that aid was slowed because Hamas was stealing it, the Israeli military itself admitted there was never any proof. “In fact, the Israeli military officials said, the U.N. aid delivery system, which Israel derided and undermined, was largely effective in providing food to Gaza’s desperate and hungry population,” the NY Times wrote. Stop supporting the GHF while it shoots civilians and starves children to death. Listen to the American veterans who are telling the world what they saw there. Tell the Israeli government to let more foreign aid in.