BEERSHEBA, Israel — Reports and videos acquired by The Associated Press reveal that American contractors safeguarding aid distribution sites in Gaza are employing live ammunition and stun grenades as desperate Palestinians seek food.

Two U.S. contractors, who spoke anonymously due to confidentiality concerns about their employer’s operations, expressed their alarm at what they describe as reckless and perilous activities. They claimed that the security personnel hired for these tasks were often inadequately trained, unvetted, heavily armed, and appeared to operate with little restriction.

The contractors recounted that their colleagues routinely hurled stun grenades and deployed pepper spray toward the Palestinians. One contractor mentioned that bullets were being discharged in various directions — upwards, into the ground, and occasionally at the Palestinians, recalling a specific event where he feared someone might have been shot.

“There are innocent people being hurt. Badly. Needlessly,” the contractor said.

He said American staff on the sites monitor those coming to seek food and document anyone considered “suspicious.” He said they share such information with the Israeli military.

Videos provided by one of the contractors and taken at the sites show hundreds of Palestinians crowded between metal gates, jostling for aid amid the sound of bullets, stun grenades and the sting of pepper spray.

Other videos include conversation between English-speaking men discussing how to disperse crowds and encouraging each other after bursts of gunfire. NBC News has not obtained or reviewed the videos.

The testimonies from the contractors — combined with the videos, internal reports and text messages obtained by the AP — offer a rare glimpse inside the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, the newly created, secretive American organization backed by Israel to feed the Gaza Strip’s population. Last month, the U.S. government pledged $30 million for the group to continue operations — the first known U.S. donation to the group, whose other funding sources remain opaque.

Journalists have been unable to access the GHF sites, located in Israeli military-controlled zones. The AP and NBC News cannot independently verify the contractors’ stories.

On Wednesday, officials in Switzerland initiated proceedings to dissolve the Geneva branch of the GHF, citing legal shortcomings in its establishment, Reuters reported.

The group is registered in the U.S. state of Delaware and had registered an affiliate in Geneva on February 12. The Federal Supervisory Authority for Foundations (ESA), a Swiss regulatory body, told Reuters the GHF had not fulfilled certain legal requirements including having the correct number of board members, a postal address or a Swiss bank account.

“GHF confirmed to the ESA that it had never carried out activities in Switzerland…and that it intends to dissolve the Geneva-registered (branch),” the ESA said in a statement obtained by Reuters.

A spokesperson for Safe Reach Solutions, the logistics company subcontracted by GHF, told the AP that there have been no serious injuries at any of their sites to date. In scattered incidents, security professionals fired live rounds into the ground and away from civilians to get their attention. That happened in the early days at the “the height of desperation where crowd control measures were necessary for the safety and security of civilians,” the spokesperson said.

Gaza’s more than 2 million Palestinians are living through a catastrophic humanitarian crisis. Since Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, setting off the 21-month war, Israel has bombarded and laid siege to the strip, leaving many teetering on the edge of famine, according to food security experts.

For 2 1/2 months before GHF’s opening in May, Israel blocked all food, water and medicine from entering Gaza, claiming Hamas was stealing the aid being transported under a preexisting system coordinated by the United Nations. It now wants GHF to replace that U.N. system. The U.N. says its Gaza aid operations do not involve armed guards.

Over 57,000 Palestinians in Gaza have been killed since the war erupted, according to the territory’s Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and militants.

GHF is an American organization, registered in Delaware and established in February to distribute humanitarian aid during the ongoing Gaza humanitarian crisis. Since the GHF sites began operating more than a month ago, Palestinians say Israeli troops open fire almost every day toward crowds on roads heading to the distribution points, through Israeli military zones. Several hundred people have been killed and hundreds more wounded, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry and witnesses.

In response, Israel’s military says it fires only warning shots and is investigating reports of civilian harm. It denies deliberately shooting at any innocent civilians and says it’s examining how to reduce “friction with the population” in the areas surrounding the distribution centers.

AP’s reporting for this article focuses on what is happening at the sites themselves. Palestinians arriving at the sites say they are caught between Israeli and American fire, said the contractor who shared videos with the AP.

“We have come here to get food for our families. We have nothing,” he recounted Palestinians telling him. “Why does the [Israeli] army shoot at us? Why do you shoot at us?”

A spokesperson for the GHF said there are people with a “vested interest” in seeing it fail and are willing to do or say almost anything to make that happen. The spokesperson said the team is composed of seasoned humanitarian, logistics and security professionals with deep experience on the ground. The group says it has distributed the equivalent of more than 50 million meals in Gaza in its food boxes of staples.

GHF says that it has consistently shown compassionate engagement with the people of Gaza.

Throughout the war, aid distribution has been marred by chaos. Gangs have looted trucks of aid traveling to distribution centers and mobs of desperate people have also offloaded trucks before they’ve reached their destination. Earlier this month, at least 51 Palestinians were killed and more than 200 wounded while waiting for the U.N. and commercial trucks to enter the territory, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry and a local hospital. Israel’s military acknowledged several casualties as soldiers opened fire on the approaching crowd and said authorities would investigate.

AP spoke to the two contractors for UG Solutions, an American outfit subcontracted to hire security personnel for the distribution sites. They said bullets, stun grenades and pepper spray were used at nearly every distribution, even if there was no threat.

Videos of aid being dispensed at the sites seen by the AP appear to back up the frenetic scenes the contractors described. The footage was taken within the first two weeks of its distributions — about halfway into the operations.

In one video, what appear to be heavily armed American security contractors at one of the sites in Gaza discuss how to disperse Palestinians nearby. One is heard saying he has arranged for a “show of force” by Israeli tanks.

“I don’t want this to be too aggressive,” he adds, “because this is calming down.”

At that moment, bursts of gunfire erupt close by, at least 15 shots. “Whoo! Whoo!” one contractor yelps.

“I think you hit one,” one says.

Then comes a shout: “Hell, yeah, boy!”

The camera’s view is obscured by a large dirt mound.

The contractor who took the video told AP that he saw other contractors shooting in the direction of Palestinians who had just collected their food and were departing. The men shot both from a tower above the site and from atop the mound, he said. The shooting began because contractors wanted to disperse the crowd, he said, but it was unclear why they continued shooting as people were walking away.

The camera does not show who was shooting or what was being shot at. But the contractor who filmed it said he watched another contractor fire at the Palestinians and then saw a man about 60 yards (meters) away — in the same direction where the bullets were fired — drop to the ground.

This happened at the same time the men were heard talking — effectively egging each other on, he said. In other videos furnished by the contractor, men in grey uniforms — colleagues, he said — can be seen trying to clear Palestinians who are squeezed into a narrow, fenced-in passage leading to one of the centers. The men fire pepper spray and throw stun grenades that detonate amid the crowd. The sound of gunfire can be heard. The contractor who took the video said the security personnel usually fire at the ground near the crowds or from nearby towers over their heads.

During a single distribution in June, contractors used 37 stun grenades, 27 rubber-and-smoke “scat shell” projectiles and 60 cans of pepper spray, according to internal text communications shared with the AP.

That count does not include live ammunition, the contractor who provided the videos said.

One photo shared by that contractor shows a woman lying in a donkey cart after he said she was hit in the head with part of a stun grenade.

An internal report by Safe Reach Solutions, the logistics company subcontracted by GHF to run the sites, found that aid seekers were injured during 31% of the distributions that took place in a two-week period in June. The report did not specify the number of injuries or the cause. SRS told the AP the report refers to non-serious injuries.

More videos show frenzied scenes of Palestinians running to collect leftover food boxes at one site. Hundreds of young men crowd near low metal barriers, transferring food from boxes to bags while contractors on the other side of the barriers tell them to stay back.

Some Palestinians wince and cough from pepper spray. “You tasting that pepper spray? Yuck,” one man close to the camera can be heard saying in English.

SRS acknowledged that it’s dealing with large, hungry populations, but said the environment is secure, controlled, and ensures people can get the aid they need safely.