AMNA NAWAZ: Today, President Trump's top Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, and the U.S. ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, made a rare visit to Gaza to assess -- quote -- "the facts on the ground" of the U.S.-Israeli-backed humanitarian aid initiative called the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.

GEOFF BENNETT: GHF has been delivering aid into Gaza since late May, and today said it crossed 100 million meals delivered.

The U.N. says hundreds of Palestinians have been killed outside GHF sites, and the leading authority on global hunger warns that Gaza's population of over two million is now closer to famine than at any point in the conflict.

Tonight, we have a special report with former American contractors from UG Solutions, which works with GHF in Gaza.

Here's Nick Schifrin.

LT. COL. ANTHONY AGUILAR (RET)., Former UG Solutions Contractor: To my rear is Gaza City.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Anthony Aguilar arrived in Gaza in mid-May aware it would be difficult... LT. COL. ANTHONY AGUILAR (RET): So we had 60,000, 70,000 people.

NICK SCHIFRIN: ... but believing it should be done.

LT. COL. ANTHONY AGUILAR (RET): There's the choice to do nothing, and then there's the choice to try.

NICK SCHIFRIN: You are a retired Army Special Forces lieutenant colonel, Green Beret, and the Army sent me a list of your deployments, Iraq, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Jordan, and the Philippines.

Why did you want to become a security contractor in Gaza?

LT. COL. ANTHONY AGUILAR (RET): The mission to me seemed noble and worthy of my time and energy, and I felt that I had a unique set of skills and experience that I felt could lend to that mission to help it succeed.

Feeding starving, hungry people, I think, is a good thing to do.

NICK SCHIFRIN: And, in the end, what did you determine about the mission?

LT. COL. ANTHONY AGUILAR (RET): Well, the purpose of the mission, I think, is still noble, feeding starving people.

The execution of the mission has failed, is failing, and will not succeed because of the inherent danger of how the process has been established, and, quite frankly, an inexperienced, over-their-head lack of leadership from the top.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Aguilar worked for UG Solutions, which provided security at sites run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.

He began in mid-May as a security operator, and UG Solutions says it later moved him to be an operation-centered team leader.

From the beginning, he filmed sites defined by disorganization and desperation.

MAN: All the people, America, help me, please.

Give me one box food.

NICK SCHIFRIN: He filmed gratitude from those lucky enough to collect food and desperate anger from those who left empty-handed.

And he filmed live ammunition and non-lethal munitions, including pepper spray, used for crowd control after crowds tried to collect food.

The Israel Defense Forces and GHF established four locations, each site secured by American contractors, with the IDF stationed on average a few hundred meters away.

And on May 29 at site four, Aguilar film this video, which UG Solutions posted in full on its Web site.

LT. COL. ANTHONY AGUILAR (RET): And I hear a burst of automatic gunfire from the UG Solutions contractor in the tower facing south, and he was shooting at the crowd as they were exiting.

He was shooting over their heads at their feet in the crowd.

(GUNSHOTS) LT. COL. ANTHONY AGUILAR (RET): Another contractor opened up with his individually assigned weapon, and he's cheering for himself as he's shooting at unarmed civilians.

Another contractor who was on the level with me on the ground by the gate catcalls to him or instigates further to him.

MAN: I think you hit one.

LT. COL. ANTHONY AGUILAR (RET): "Hey, man, I think you got one."

The contractor that was shooting then responds with: MAN: "Hell yeah, boy!"

LT. COL. ANTHONY AGUILAR (RET): "Hell yeah, boy."

What the contractor on the ground said of, "Hey, I think you got one," he saw the exact same thing I saw.

An older man dropped to the ground and wasn't moving.

NICK SCHIFRIN: A GHF statement provided to "PBS News Hour" says -- quote -- "No Gazan civilians have been shot by UG Solutions personnel, period.

The contractor you were referring to was encouraging IDF fire and was immediately disciplined and terminated for unprofessional conduct."

But, this week, GHF released what it described as sworn affidavits by other UG Solutions contractors.

And one of them says -- quote -- "I did not witness anyone firing warning shots in the direction of civilians."

Another affidavit reads: "I did not witness any UG personnel firing warning shots in the direction of civilians.

Regarding Tony Aguilar's allegations, I believe they are inaccurate and do not align with UG Solutions' strict policies and training on the use of force."

A GHF spokesperson says: "UG Solutions operates under a tiered escalation of force policy that includes warning shots when absolutely necessary to protect civilians, maintain order and prevent violence during critical aid distributions."

LT. COL. ANTHONY AGUILAR (RET): What I saw was an unarmed Palestinian leaving a distribution site was killed by needless, reckless behavior.

There was no threat.

SEN. CHRIS VAN HOLLEN (D-MD): You have decided to come forward and speak out.

LT. COL. ANTHONY AGUILAR (RET): Yes, sir.

SEN. CHRIS VAN HOLLEN: So why are you speaking out now?

NICK SCHIFRIN: Last week, Aguilar visited, including with Maryland Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen.

SEN. CHRIS VAN HOLLEN: Well, I think your testimony is going to be important to make sure that the American people know what's happening.

MAN: That would be a squad from IDF.

NICK SCHIFRIN: "PBS News Hour" spoke to a second former UG Solutions contractor who helped secure GHF's site number one in Southern Gaza.

He says, on their first day, the site and the contractors were overrun.

He said they fired warning shots only away from the crowd, but he accuses members of the team of roughing up Palestinians in order to clear the site.

And he told the "News Hour" there was no vetting of aid recipients and fears GHF has delivered food not just to civilians, but also to Hamas fighters.

LT. COL. ANTHONY AGUILAR (RET): We're at secure distribution site one.

NICK SCHIFRIN: On June the 2nd, Aguilar filmed at that same site.

He too says the recipients were not vetted.

GHF says -- quote -- "Our focus is on feeding hungry people, not checking I.D.s, because the situation on the ground demands this be the priority."

LT. COL. ANTHONY AGUILAR (RET): Thousands of boxes of aid are gone within eight to 11 minutes.

That's how chaotic it is.

Eight to 11 minutes, the aid is gone.

Two women were sitting on a wooden pallet with their box of aid.

A UG Solutions contractor threw a stun grenade in the crowd, landed next to me, detonated.

It knocked me down.

The pepper spray overwhelmed me, and I looked over to where the two women had been sitting, and the woman that was wearing red had been hit in the head with the metal fuse of the stun grenade, and it knocked - - it immediately knocked her unconscious.

She was not moving.

I heard on the main control center, call to the Palestinian worker, we had local Palestinian workers, to bring the donkey cart in and get her out of here.

I placed my hand on this woman's arm just as kind of a condolence or care to see how she was, and she was lifeless.

There was no pulse.

NICK SCHIFRIN: A Gaza Humanitarian Foundation statement says: "The woman in question was not struck by any projectile or grenade fragment.

She was suffering from heat exhaustion and dehydration, and our team provided her with immediate medical attention."

LT. COL. ANTHONY AGUILAR (RET): I would testify in a court of law.

I would raise my right-hand and attest that that woman was dead.

DAVID PANZER, Counsel, UG Solutions: While it's true that UG Solutions personnel use pepper spray, smoke and flashbangs to prevent trampling in the crowds of civilians that are trying to seek aid, these systems are deployed consistent with their intended use.

There are safety measures in place.

NICK SCHIFRIN: This week, UG Solutions' legal counsel, David Panzer, briefed reporters with information he said discredits Aguilar.

DAVID PANZER: Mr. Aguilar was terminated from his contract with UG Solutions on June 13, 2025, due to poor performance, volatile conflicts with staff and erratic behavior.

NICK SCHIFRIN: GHF also charges Aguilar fabricated a memo highlighting its metadata and made threats unless the company gave him a new job.

Aguilar says the memo and its metadata are authentic.

Those threatening words were directed to a fellow contractor about an unrelated dispute, not at UG Solutions, and the possible new job was with a sister company.

LT. COL. ANTHONY AGUILAR (RET): My family has been threatened, I have been threatened directly and indirectly.

And for anybody that may think that does not deter me, because my loyalty lies with the American people, American values, what we all agree to as a society and as a country and as a nation and as a world what's right and what's not.

CHAPIN FAY (Gaza Humanitarian Foundation): GHF was never designed and never supposed to solve this problem alone.

NICK SCHIFRIN: GHF and its spokesman, Chapin Fay, argue the U.N. must deliver more aid inside of Gaza and Israel must allow more aid into Gaza, and that's the only way to defeat desperation.

GHF says it has delivered 100 million meals.

And GHF says, since Aguilar's final day on the job in mid-June, it's made improvements, establishing separate women's and children's-only distribution.

The IDF recently said it reorganized a GHF site with new fencing, signage and entry routes.

And both Israel and the GHF blame Hamas and point to these videos that the Israeli military says depict Hamas shaking down Palestinians after receiving GHF aid and enjoying food while the people starve.

And they say violence at GHF sites is Hamas-instigated and GHF contractors act responsibly, despite threats.

It says that Hamas has placed bounties on GHF staff, murdered 12 Palestinian staff and injured two American contractors with a grenade attack at one of the sites.

And in that particular incident, GHF argues that those contractors did not return fire -- quote -- "that restraint and professionalism should be commended."

Do you acknowledge that argument that GHF faces a threat?

LT. COL. ANTHONY AGUILAR (RET): Hamas are a threat and they are an enemy, and they are present.

I absolutely do not argue with that.

There is absolutely a need to have security.

However, the presence of a threat doesn't then mean that you can use barbaric, aggressive, forceful tactics against the entire population because some of them might be Hamas.

We're not combatants.

We are not belligerents in the war against Hamas.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Since late May, outside the GHF sites and areas exclusively under Israeli military control, the U.N. says more than 850 Palestinian civilians have been killed.

Why do you think that's happening?

LT. COL. ANTHONY AGUILAR (RET): I know many, many of the contractors are very concerned about the conduct and the discipline of the Israeli Defense Force units in Gaza.

They have made this very clear to us.

They're not shy about it.

"We shoot at the crowds to communicate with them."

That's what they say?

"We shoot to communicate."

So is it plausible then that shooting at night at these crowds to control the crowd, that people are dying?

Absolutely.

NICK SCHIFRIN: The Israel Defense Forces told "PBS NewsHour" -- quote -- "Any claim that the IDF deliberately fires at civilians is false and entirely unfounded.

IDF regulations strictly prohibit intentional fire at civilians.

Forces are permitted to carry out warning shots as part of a graduated response to threats posed to them."

In the end, Aguilar says he wants the mission of feeding the hungry to succeed, and he's speaking out because he wants it to be -- quote -- "done right."

LT. COL. ANTHONY AGUILAR (RET): After 25 years of service in the United States Army, I hung up my uniform, but I did not hang up my oath.

My oath is to the Constitution of the United States.

That Constitution is founded in values, American values.

We treat people with dignity and respect.

What we were doing in Gaza and how we were doing it is un-American.

It is not in line with American values.

I didn't raise my right hand and take an oath to a president, to a Congress, to a contract, to money.

I took an oath to the Constitution.

And those values are not what's happening in Gaza.

GEOFF BENNETT: Our thanks to Nick Schifrin for that report.

This week, the White House says President Trump will soon unveil a new plan to increase food aid to Gazans.