Media Blunder: Gaza Boy Reportedly Killed by IDF Found Alive
‘Whistleblower’ Anthony Aguilar claimed the boy was “gunned down” by Israeli troops near an aid distribution centre run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).
A boy from Gaza, whose death was blamed by the mainstream media on Israeli troops, has now been found alive and safe. Eight-year-old Abd al-Rahim Muhammad Hamdan, also known by his nicknames “Amir” or “Abboud,” can be seen talking and waving in video footage exclusively obtained by Fox News and The Daily Wire.
The account of the boy’s alleged death in Israeli gunfire was first brought to the media’s attention by Anthony Aguilar, a former U.S. Army soldier who briefly worked for the U.S.-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF). Aguilar, styled himself as a whistleblower, claimed he witnessed Israeli ‘war crimes’ in Gaza, including the killing of the young boy.
On August 3, MSNBC aired an interview with Aguilar in which he accused the Israeli armed forces and the humanitarian organization GHF of all sorts of crimes. On the backdrop of the young boy’s footage taken near a GHF aid distribution centre, Aguilar claimed that he was “gunned down” by Israeli troops shortly after receiving an aid package.
The broadcaster reported:
Anthony Aguilar, a former Gaza Humanitarian Foundation contractor, describes what he saw on the ground in Gaza while trying to distribute aid to hungry Palestinians, including meeting a young 10-year-old boy, Amir, who thanked him and his colleague for the aid he was able to retrieve. Moments later, he says Amir was “gunned down” and killed. “We have no excuse as a nation…as a world to look at this and say we didn’t know,” he says.
In response to Aguilar’s claims, the GHF launched an investigation into the incident and successfully located the boy.
Exclusive video reveals Gaza boy once reported killed by IDF is alive and safe with his mother. pic.twitter.com/Mm8hBxqO67
— Fox News (@FoxNews) September 4, 2025
Fox News reported:
A young Gazan boy dubbed “Amir,” who traveled to a Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) distribution site and was reported as having been killed by Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) in May, has been found alive and was hiding out with his mother.
In an exclusive interview with the boy whose real name was confirmed by the GHF to be Abdul Rahim Muhammad Hamden, but who goes by “Abboud,” the 8-year-old and his mother answered questions provided by Fox News Digital through a GHF translator, in which the pair appeared excited ahead of their planned extraction from the Gaza Strip.
Abboud and his mother, whose name is Najlaa, were safely extracted from the Gaza Strip on Thursday, though the location has not been disclosed in this reporting for their protection.
Tony Aguilar, the GHF contractor who was fired, went on a global publicity tour claiming that a little Gazan boy whom he gave aid to, "Amir" was shot dead in Gaza. Except Amir, whose name is actually Abdul, is very much alive. @piersmorgan
pic.twitter.com/UMWJ8Z04FP— Emily Schrader – אמילי שריידר امیلی شریدر (@emilykschrader) September 4, 2025
The Israel Hayom newspaper covered the story surrounding Aguilar’s blatant claim:
The affair commenced in late May, when Anthony Aguilar, a former US special forces operative who served as a contractor and was dismissed from the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), claimed, following his termination, that he witnessed the child being killed by IDF fire near a Gaza Humanitarian Foundation food distribution site. According to his account, the child – then referred to as “Amir” – arrived at the site carrying food bags, thanked him with a kiss on the hand and cheek, and ran back to his family. Aguilar recounted that shortly thereafter, chaos erupted, and following fire from the IDF, he discovered the child “dead from gunshots to the chest and leg.”
His testimony was broadcast on major networks, published on MSNBC and Dialogue Works, and even transmitted directly to Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen. Within a brief period, “Abboud” became a symbol against the alleged “violations” by Israel and the foundation, which were suspected of collaboration in killing Palestinian civilians.
At GHF, they identified contradictions in Aguilar’s testimony, who altered the location of the incident multiple times, and decided to initiate an independent investigation at the end of July. Through interviews with locals and cross-referencing biometric data and facial photos, the organization’s representatives successfully located Abboud’s mother, Najla, and the child himself. Both were identified with certainty, documented on cameras playing with organization personnel, and approximately two weeks ago were transferred in a covert operation to a protected distribution site.
Last weekend, under heavy security measures, the child, his mother, and additional family members were evacuated from Gaza to a secure location.
The GHF deserves the credit for discrediting Aguilar’s claims against Israeli troops. On Thursday, the aid organization expressed relief that the boy was unscathed. The GHF thanked the U.S. veterans who located and extracted the boy to safety. The aid organization relies on private American contractors for securing its distribution network in terrorist-infested Gaza.
The Israel National News/Arutz Sheva reported GHF’s response:
Rev. Johnnie Moore, Executive Chair of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, issued a statement emphasizing the gravity of the situation: “We are overjoyed and deeply relieved that Aboud is safe, and that this story ends in hope. That outcome was never guaranteed, and it’s thanks to the courage and persistence of our team of American heroes, veterans who never stopped working to find him and bring him to safety in the most complex environment imaginable. While this story ends happily, it could have ended in tragedy.”
Moore continued, criticizing the haste with which unverified narratives were circulated: “Too many people, including in the press and civil society, were quick to spread unverified claims without asking the most basic questions. When a child’s life is at stake, facts must matter more than headlines.”
Chapin Fay, a GHF spokesperson, confirmed to both Fox News Digital and The Daily Wire that Abboud and Najlaa are now in a safe and undisclosed location. “We will not be disclosing their whereabouts at this time for their safety and security, but we have every belief that they are on their way to a new life,” Fay stated.
MY STATEMENT ON BEHALF OF GHF:
When this lie was brazenly, cravenly shared from the press to the halls of Congress, our team set out to find this little boy — whatever it took. Not to show the truth or to prove our point, but to save the kid’s life. These lies endangered his… https://t.co/Z7woxgSYnw
— Rev. Johnnie Moore ن (@JohnnieM) September 4, 2025
Despite relentless media attacks on the GHF, it continues to deliver food and essential commodities to civilians across Gaza. In early August, U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff inspected GHF distribution work in Gaza, concluding there was “no starvation” in the enclave.
IDF releases photos of Hamas terror commander’s lavish feasts in terror tunnel before his elimination
In another blow to false claims of famine — largely propagated by Hamas-run ‘Gaza Health Ministry,’ the IDF, on Thursday, released pictures of a Hamas commander feasting in a terror tunnel before he was killed in an Israeli strike.
Mohammad Shabana, who commanded Hamas’s terrorist Rafah Brigade in southern Gaza, can be seen enjoying lavish food and partying in the terror tunnel. The pictures were recovered from the Hamas tunnel following the strike. The photos “depict Shabana and other operatives enjoying a Ramadan iftar meal inside a tunnel, with platters of falafel, grilled meats, fish, vegetables, flatbreads, and fried foods,” Jerusalem Post reported Thursday.
This is not the first time evidence of Hamas terrorists living lavishly in their terror tunnels has come to light. In July, the IDF released a similar video showing terrorists feasting in their underground hideouts.
An IDF spokesman in Arabic reveals photos of the fast-breaking feast celebrations of Muhammad Shabana,commander of the Rafah Brigade in Hamas'military wing, who was killed along with Muhammad Sinwar last May in the tunnels under the European Hospital in eastern Khan Yunis.
Mafia pic.twitter.com/hMs582RUyM— Minimalist Singer (@BasilWheel) September 4, 2025
Shabana escaped an Israeli strike in May when the IDF targeted and eliminated Hamas chief Muhammad Sinwar. His elimination is a significant blow to Hamas in southern Gaza as the IDF prepares a major offensive to capture the terrorist stronghold of Gaza City, located in the north.
Ynetnews reported:
The IDF on Thursday released images of a lavish meal held in March by Hamas Rafah Brigade commander Muhammad Shabana, weeks before he was killed alongside Mohammed Sinwar beneath Gaza’s European Hospital in Khan Younis.
According to the IDF, the photos were found at the site of the targeted strike. They show Shabana dining with other terrorists underground during an iftar meal inside a tunnel, and other images from the past year show him eating with his family. The dishes included chips, flatbreads, falafel, fish, sausage, grilled meat and vegetables.
“While Gaza residents were forced to break the fast with food scraps, Hamas leaders feasted underground with extravagant banquets,” said IDF Arabic-language spokesperson Avichay Adraee. “On one hand Hamas runs a media campaign about the so-called ‘starvation of Gaza,’ and on the other it loots food to feed its leaders and their families. Time after time, the photos, unlike Hamas propaganda, do not lie.”
Shabana assumed command of the Rafah Brigade during the 2014 Gaza war, Operation Protective Edge, after the killing of three senior Hamas commanders. Under his command, four battalions operated, including the elite Nukhba unit that spearheaded the October 7 massacre.
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Comments
blunder? libel
It was a simple mixup between Gaza Boy and Balloon Boy.
And what will happen to that clown who reported this? Nada. There is no genocide, there is no famine. Never was except what was forced on the people by Hamas.
Another ‘Palestinian’ lie which will never be acknowleged by our Media Masters.
What has happened to Aguilar?
gazanians will solve this easily by killn him “again”
That’s why nothing was said until they had him AND some relatives in a safe place. GHF has someone competent running it.
And again… and again… and again…
Retired Green Beret Anthony Aguilar was escorted from the U.S. Senate while yelling that the country was complicit in genocide.
The Drop Site News substack posted the video on social media, noting that Aguilar is perhaps most known as the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation subcontractor who was fired after he was accused of creating “a hostile work environment” and was “disruptive and confrontational.”
Aguilar, an anti-Israel conspiracy theorist, shouted at the Senators that they were “all complicit in genocide.”
https://www.rawstory.com/senate-foreign-relations-committee/
same guy???
Even though he’s an American I wouldn’t be unhappy if the fabulist and attention seeker Anthony Aguilar were to suffer some sort of accident. My response to his untimely and sudden death would be to say that’s such a shame. What a nice boy. He has so much to live for too.
This Youtube video has attracted a large number of Jew haters.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7_Wb7DgzWk
Hamas and anything connected to Palestine are very much like the present Democrat party in that anything they say should be considered a lie until proven true.
Perhaps Nick Schifrin might want to reconsider his interview with Anthony Aguilar after this.
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/u-s-whistleblower-describes-chaos-and-reckless-force-at-gaza-aid-sites
Why? He says what PBS wants him to.
“I got better.”
I wish someone would do the same with Muhammad al-Durrah.
Little Saint Mohammed is surely long dead. He was alive when he was loaded into the ambulance, but I’m sure he was taken out dead. They would have been stupid not to kill him. His value to them dead was incalculable. Their entire movement rested on his martyrdom. The risk that someone would see him alive and question his cult would have been too high.
If he were alive he’d be 37 now, and keeping a very low profile.
If under the Uniform Code of Military Justice a retired officer can be tried by court martial for as offense committed after retirement, this guy had better lawyer up.
Tony Aguilar: falsus in uno, feces in omnibus.
Another Tucker Carlson lie has been proven to be a lie.
Vijeta, if you are going to title the article, “Media blunder“, you should at least say “Yet another media blunder”! In fact, these are egregious falsehoods and libels rather than blunders. To accept Hamas propaganda without verification, knowing full well that they have lied over and over again, makes the media Hamas accessories.
Not a blunder, intentional deception. He’s been the star of a few “Children killed in Gaza, don’t you care about the chiiiiiiildrennnnn?!?!?!” videos.
Everybody sing along, “Hooray for Pali-wood…”