Inaccurate Details in U.S. Soldier Aguilar’s Story About the “Martyrdom of Child Amir”

Former U.S. soldier Anthony Aguilar, who served at an aid distribution center run by the “Gaza Humanitarian Foundation” in Gaza, shared a story about a child named Amir who kissed his hand after receiving aid and was later reportedly killed by Israeli gunfire.

The story gained widespread attention on social media, and a photo of the child circulated extensively.

However, Siham Shoufi Al-Jaraba’a, the mother of the child whose photo appears in the video and who Aguilar referred to, told Kashif that the information shared about her son is inaccurate.

Detailing that her son’s real name is Abdul Rahim Mohammed Al-Jaraba’a, not Amir. And that the widely circulated photo was taken on 28 July 2025, not 28 May 2025, in the Al-Shakoush area of Tal Al-Sultan, west of Rafah.

She added that the child’s fate remains unknown. The mother has received no confirmation of whether Abdul Rahim has been injured, detained, or killed.

Al-Jaraba’a stated that Abdul Rahim is 10-years-old, born on 16 October 2016. She said that it was his first time going to the aid distribution point in Al-Shakoush, and he never returned. She was shocked to see the soldier post his photo along with unverified information on 29 June 2025.

Still holding on to hope, the mother visited the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation’s aid distribution center on Tuesday, 5 August 2025, but was unable to obtain any new information.

The Palestinian Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip announced on 5 August 2025, that the number of aid askers who were killed and arrived at hospitals over the past 24 hours is 52 and 352 injuries, bringing the total number of identified martyrs to 1,568 and more than 11,230 injuries.

Meanwhile, Gaza hospitals recorded eight new deaths from famine and malnutrition over the past 24 hours, including one child and seven adults. This brings the total number of victims of famine and malnutrition to 188, including 94 children. 

The literal text of the account of the former American soldier Anthony Aguilar: “This little boy, his name is Amir, was standing in the middle of the crowd, but he started walking, as you can see in the picture above on the right. He approached me and extended his hand. At first, I thought he wanted more food. I felt upset because I didn’t have anything. I told myself, I don’t have anything. He extended his hand, so I motioned for him to come closer. I told him, ‘Come here.’ He extended his hand, took my hand, and kissed it. He was kissing my hand and saying, ‘Thank you.’ You can see in this picture that this little boy is not wearing shoes, and his clothes are falling off because he is very thin. I put my hand on his left shoulder and looked at him, and he was looking at me. We exchanged glances, and I told him, ‘People care. You are a human being, and people care about you. The world cares about you.’ This child is not Hamas. Why is he a Hamas fighter? I looked at him and said, ‘The world cares about you.’ He put down the little food he had. He didn’t have a food box. He had half a qif of rice that he found on the ground, a bag with a hole, and half a qif of lentils that he found on the ground. He was thanking us, ‘Thank you.’”

“This boy, from where he came, walked 12 kilometers to get there, just to get there, he walked 12 kilometers. Look at this boy, and when he got there, he thanked us for the leftovers and crumbs he got and put the food on the ground, because I was on my knees at that moment, and he put his food down and put his hands on my face, on my cheeks. This skinny boy with his skinny, dirty hands put them on my face and then kissed me, kissed me and said thank you in English. Then he gathered his things and went back to the group, and then he was sprayed with pepper spray, tear gas, sound bombs, and bullets were fired at his feet and in the air, and he ran away in fear, and the Israeli army was shooting at the crowd and at the people along the Morag Pass, and while they were doing that, they were shooting at this crowd and the Palestinian civilians, people who were falling to the ground after being shot, and Amir was among them. Amir walked 12 kilometers to get food, but he found little and thanked the Nazis for that and then he was killed.”