Boy Said to Have Been Shot By IDF While Getting Food Is Actually Alive: Gaza Aid Group Claims

Tony Aguilar on The Tucker Carlson Show

A U.S.-backed Gaza aid group claims that a Palestinian boy who was allegedly shot and killed by the Israeli Defense Forces is alive and living abroad with his mother.

The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation posted to X on Thursday, “Major Announcement: We have incredible news to share. The young Gazan boy falsely identified as ‘Amir’ by former UG contractor Tony Aguilar is alive and safe. His real name is Abdul Rahim Muhammad Hamden – “Abood” as his family calls him – and after weeks of high-risk work by the GHF team, he and his mother are now safe.”

Aguilar is a retired U.S. special forces veteran that GHF called “a disgruntled former contractor.”

In a follow-up post, the aid group claimed that Aguilar “lied” about the boy’s fate during an interview with UnXeptable, a group that describes itself as “a grassroots movement launched by a group of Israelis expats for saving Israeli democracy.”

“Several weeks ago, Aguilar, a disgruntled former contractor, fabricated a lie that Abood, whom he called ‘Amir,’ was killed outside a GHF site,” the subsequent posts said, continuing:

He said the boy kissed his hand and thanked him, and that these were his final words. As recently as August 23, Mr. Aguilar further embellished the story, saying Amir was shot in the torso, in the leg, and that he watched him die. Aguilar spread this story across global media, endangering the boy with sensitive details that put them in the crosshairs of Hamas.

Because of Aguilar’s reckless lies, GHF launched a careful, high-risk search. Our team was able to quietly trace Abood’s family. By relying on the deep trust built with the community through our daily aid delivery, we found Abood and his biological mother. We verified his identity through a variety of means, including biometrics and the shirt Abood wore the day Aguilar claims he died.

What followed was a high-stakes, multinational diplomatic effort. We are grateful to the U.S. Embassy in Israel, and to other countries in the region for their close coordination with GHF over the past week to make this rescue possible. Abood is alive. He is safe.

GHF then declared, “Imagine the kind of person who would endanger a child’s life for 15 minutes of fame. That’s what Tony Aguilar did.”

The group called for retractions from media outlets that published the story. They include podcaster Tucker Carlson.

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) also called on Carlson to apologize, writing, “@TuckerCarlson had this guy, Tony Aguilar, on his show. Aguilar claimed—with Tucker nodding solemnly—that Israel murdered a little Palestinian boy. It turns out…the boy is alive & well. It was used to undermine Trump’s Gaza policy. Will Tucker apologize?”

Aguilar hasn’t commented thus far.