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<h1 class="gmail-reader-title">Exclusive: US contractors in
Gaza pursued MEE journalist before his killing</h1>
<div class="gmail-credits gmail-reader-credits">Khaled
Shalaby</div>
<div class="gmail-meta-data">
<div class="gmail-reader-estimated-time">August 27, 2025</div>
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<p><a
href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/countries/us"
target="_blank" moz-do-not-send="true">US</a>
contractors at a Gaza aid centre interrogated a
source of Middle East Eye journalist <a
href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/users/mohamed-salama"
target="_blank" moz-do-not-send="true">Mohamed
Salama</a> seeking information about his identity
and whereabouts before he was killed, MEE can
reveal.</p>
<p>Salama was killed alongside MEE reporter <a
href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/users/ahmed-aziz" target="_blank"
moz-do-not-send="true">Ahmed Abu Aziz</a> and
three other journalists on Monday morning as they
responded to an attack on Nasser hospital in
southern Gaza\u2019s Khan Younis. The two strikes killed
20 Palestinians overall, including medics and first
responders.</p>
<p>Days before, a source for one of Salama\u2019s major
investigations for MEE told him that they had been
briefly detained at an aid distribution centre by US
security contractors guarding the site.</p>
<p>There, the source said, they had been interrogated
about the identity of the reporter behind the story.
Salama worked on the story anonymously for security
reasons.</p>
<p>\u201cThe source would not have been in contact with me
unless they thought something was deeply wrong,\u201d
Salama told colleagues at the time.</p>
<p>When asked if he felt safe knowing he was being
pursued for his work, Salama replied: \u201cWe
journalists are never safe in Gaza.\u201d</p>
<p>Middle East Eye asked Safe Reach Solutions and UG
Solutions, the two US security firms working at the
aid distribution sites, whether they were involved
in the source\u2019s interrogation.</p>
<p>MEE also asked if their employees were passing
intelligence to Israel on the identity of
Palestinian journalists such as Salama.</p>
<p>They had not replied by the time of publication.</p>
<p>Israel has maintained a total siege on Gaza since
March, only allowing a modicum of food to enter
after monopolising aid distribution through the
Israel- and US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation
(GHF), sidelining the UN.</p>
<p>Since the GHF began operating in May, at least
1,760 Palestinians have been killed while seeking
aid, <a
href="https://www.un.org/unispal/document/ohchr-press-release-15aug25/"
target="_blank" moz-do-not-send="true">according
to the UN</a>.</p>
<p>The UN says that most of those were killed by the
Israel military, which monitors the hubs, but
several former employees of the contractors guarding
the sites have come forward in recent weeks <a
href="https://www.democracynow.org/2025/7/29/anthony_aguilar_ghf_war_crimes"
target="_blank" moz-do-not-send="true">saying</a>
they witnessed both Israeli soldiers and <a
href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/us-guards-ghf-gaza-fired-palestinian-aid-seekers-report"
target="_blank" moz-do-not-send="true">their US
colleagues</a> shooting at Palestinians.</p>
<p>The GHF has repeatedly denied that aid seekers have
been shot at its sites.</p>
<p>Middle East Eye asked the GHF and Israeli military
for comment. The GHF called the allegation that the
source was interrogated at one of its sites "absurd
and completely false".</p>
<h3>Israeli media tells a different story</h3>
<p>Since Israel\u2019s genocide in Gaza began 22 months
ago, Salama has contributed video and written
reports for Middle East Eye and Al Jazeera that have
attracted international attention.</p>
<p>When the BBC pulled a documentary profiling a
Palestinian boy in response to an intense pro-Israel
campaign earlier this year, <a
href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/exclusive-palestinian-child-centre-documentary-row-holds-bbc-responsible-fate"
target="_blank" moz-do-not-send="true">Salama
interviewed</a> the 13-year-old who had found
himself at the centre of a British media storm as
well as a war.</p>
<p>In March, he also reported on a <a
href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/bodies-gaza-medics-found-handcuffed-and-shot-mass-grave"
target="_blank" moz-do-not-send="true">mass grave</a>
containing the bodies of 15 medics, who had been
bound and then shot in the chest, back and head.
Salama was one of the very first to publish details
about the apparent Israeli massacre and speak to the
<a
href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/parents-medic-killed-israel"
target="_blank" moz-do-not-send="true">victims\u2019
relatives</a>.</p>
<p>Earlier this month, <a
href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/gaza-family-boy-amir-killed-ghf-site-still-have-not-received-his-body"
target="_blank" moz-do-not-send="true">Salama
identified</a> a frail 10-year-old boy who a
whistleblower said had been gunned down while trying
to receive food at an <a
href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/countries/israel" target="_blank"
moz-do-not-send="true">Israeli</a>- and <a
href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/countries/us"
target="_blank" moz-do-not-send="true">US</a>-backed
GHF aid centre.</p>
<p>He discovered that Abdulrahim \u201cAmir\u201d al-Jarabe'a\u2019s
family had not been told he had been killed or
received his body.</p>
<p>International condemnation has been mounting in
response to the journalists\u2019 killing, which was
captured on live television.</p>
<p>In response, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu described the incident as a \u201ctragic
mishap\u201d.</p>
<p>The <a
href="https://x.com/IDF/status/1960364428786057545" target="_blank"
moz-do-not-send="true">Israeli military said</a>
that Golani Brigade troops were targeting a camera
used by Hamas, providing no evidence or explanation
for the second strike 15 minutes after the first.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, military sources have been painting a
different picture to the Israeli media.</p>
<p>Channel 14, a right-wing outlet known to be
supportive of Netanyahu\u2019s government and the war, <a
href="https://www.c14.co.il/artcommand,,03680"
target="_blank" moz-do-not-send="true">reported</a>
military sources as saying the attack killed
"terrorists disguised as journalists".</p>
<p>The sources said that soldiers targeted a Hamas
"terror headquarters" in Nasser hospital.</p>
<p>"According to the current security concept, any
place where terrorists operate, whether it used to
be a school or a hospital, becomes a legitimate
target," the report said.</p>
<p>Soldiers involved in the strike told Channel 14
that "the attack was approved and coordinated with
the senior command, and they knew about it before it
was carried out".</p>
<p>Similarly, news site <a
href="https://www.maariv.co.il/news/military/article-1227285"
target="_blank" moz-do-not-send="true">Maariv
reported</a> that "the shooting was carried out
after receiving approvals from the command levels".</p>
<p>Following Netanyahu\u2019s framing of the incident as a
\u201cmishap\u201d, senior Israeli military officials <a
href="https://www.c14.co.il/article/1305163"
target="_blank" moz-do-not-send="true">reiterated
to Channel 14</a>: \u201cWe support the soldiers - they
acted as required.\u201d</p>
<p>Israel has killed 246 Palestinian journalists in
Gaza since October 2023. Often it attempts to
discredit the victims by falsely accusing them of
ties to Hamas.</p>
<p>More than 62,000 Palestinians have been killed by
Israel since the war began.</p>
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