Gazan Boy Alive After Ex-GHF Whistleblower Falsely Claimed IDF Killed Him
Abdul Rahim Muhammad Hamden, known as Abboud, was located with his mother after an internal Gaza humanitarian group refuted a whistleblower’s death claim tied to a May incident outside a GHF aid site.
A Gazan boy once reported killed by Israeli forces has been found alive, after investigators concluded that a widely publicized claim was false. The child, Abdul Rahim Muhammad Hamden — known as Abboud and eight years old, who will turn nine in October — and his mother Najlaa were located in the Gaza Strip and later extracted from the area under security protection. The discovery follows weeks of scrutiny surrounding a narrative pushed by a former Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) employee who claimed a boy he called Amir was killed by Israeli forces after leaving a GHF aid site on May 28.
Abboud and his mother appeared at a GHF Secure Distribution Site (SDS) 3 on Aug. 23, 2025, confirming they are alive. GHF officials have not disclosed their new location for safety reasons. The boy’s identity was later confirmed through a combination of biometric checks and corroborating documentation during the operation.
Anthony Aguilar, a former Green Beret who worked as a contractor for UG Solutions — a subcontractor funded with about $30 million in U.S. government support for what UG described as “critical work” — described an emotional encounter in which the boy kissed his hand and forehead and thanked him for rice and lentils he had found at the site. The footage Aguilar provided to GHF officials and outlets did not show the interaction he described; a GHF spokesman and other sources noted that the hand the boy kissed in the video appeared to belong to a colleague standing nearby. Aguilar has maintained his account despite the absence of the moment he described in the clip.
The portrait of the incident grew more tangled as Aguilar gave varying accounts of where the alleged shooting occurred. He told several outlets that the killing took place outside SDS 1, then altered his account to place the event near SDS 2, and later claimed it happened outside SDS 3. NBC and other outlets reported that producers later confirmed the boy described by Aguilar was alive and out of Gaza in an unnamed country; FOX News Digital corroborated that multiple GHF sources found no record of any fatal incident at SDS 1 or SDS 3, and that SDS 2 was not operational on May 28.
In the wake of the search, GHF conducted an internal verification operation that relied on biometric data and facial recognition to compare Abboud’s images with those captured by Aguilar. The effort also used the death certificate of Abboud’s father and scars observed on the boy to confirm his identity. The shirt Abboud wore in the May 28 footage was retrieved and linked to the person identified by the GHF. Aguilar, who has repeatedly defended his reporting, told Fox News Digital that while he could not verify death due to access restrictions, he believed the scene depicted by the footage represented a real interaction he had with the boy. He also said he witnessed Palestinians being dispersed with pepper spray, tear gas, stun grenades and loud gunfire at the SDS 3 exit area, a detail the GHF contested as inconsistent with the available timeline.
Najlaa, Abboud’s birth mother, later participated in the extraction process. She told GHF officials that the boy had not gone missing until July 28, after a family rift over custody following his father’s death under Palestinian law. She and Abboud, along with four other male relatives whose identities were kept confidential for security reasons, agreed to be evacuated from the Gaza Strip as Hamas threats intensified. The group traveled to an undisclosed location outside Gaza, with the family stating that their safety required remaining out of sight while authorities completed the verification and extraction process. A video later recorded by GHF shows Najlaa with Abboud and a younger male relative, describing their relief at being together and their intention to stay protected.
The dispute over the incident has intensified scrutiny of both the whistleblower’s claims and the organization’s handling of aid distributions. In a July press conference, GHF spokesperson Chapin Fay called Aguilar’s assertions about Abboud “false,” while Aguilar described the organization as disseminating misleading statements in response to his disclosures. UG Solutions’ counsel David Panzer echoed the criticism of Aguilar, saying the contractor was terminated for cause on June 13, 2025, citing “poor performance, volatile conflicts with staff, and erratic behavior.” Panzer added that Aguilar’s recent public statements appeared to be a bid to regain his role with UG Solutions, a claim the contractor has denied.
The case underscores the broader tension surrounding aid deliveries in Gaza and the risks of misinformation amid a humanitarian crisis. While investigators have confirmed Abboud’s survival and identified him and his mother, the exact circumstances around the May 28 incident remain disputed, and questions about the reliability of early whistleblower claims persist. The internal GHF investigation concluded with Abboud’s emergence at SDS 3 in August as part of a security-driven extraction that prioritized the boy’s safety and verified identity, rather than any verified death.
Images embedded in the report provide visual context for readers:
The events highlight the volatility of information in conflict zones and the ongoing challenge for humanitarian groups to verify claims quickly while ensuring the safety of those involved. Further details about the ongoing security assessment and the status of Abboud’s family are expected to be released by GHF officials as conditions on the ground permit.