On July 28, a man named Anthony “Tony” Aguilar went on a small, YouTube-streamed Zoom call and, toward the end of an hourlong conversation, told a story that set the internet ablaze.
Aguilar, a former contractor with the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), a U.S.- and Israel-backed aid organization, recounted a heart-wrenching incident that took place in May, in the early days of GHF’s operations: A Gazan boy he called Amir had walked 12 kilometers to reach the aid site, thanked Aguilar for the food, kissed his hand—and moments later, was gunned down by the IDF.
Within hours of the Zoom call’s publication, Quincy Institute co-founder Trita Parsi shared an excerpt of it on X. His accompanying post, which focuses on the plight of Amir and erroneously states the boy is five years old, has been viewed more than five million times. The story spread like wildfire.
