A former security contractor for Gaza's controversial new Israel- and US-backed aid distribution sites has told the BBC that he witnessed colleagues opening fire several times on hungry Palestinians who had posed no threat, including with machine guns.

As Israel moves to expand military operations in Gaza, even approving plans to capture the entire strip, it also wants to seize control of humanitarian aid distribution there — with the help of private U.S. military contractors.

The extended deadline of the Lebanon ceasefire has come and gone, and as previously confirmed, Israeli troops only left populated areas, but remained in southern Lebanon at five hilltop surveillance posts that the IDF established in the weeks leading up to the deadline.