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“A Palestinian man had picked up some children to let them step on his shoulders to get onto a berm because they were being crushed. He [the Israeli officer] says, ‘Tell your men to get them down,’” Aguilar told Van Hollen. “I was like, ‘we got this under control’…they’re children.”

The Israeli officer erupted, Aguilar recalled, threatening, “Get them down now or I will.”

Aguilar said he ignored the threat as “bombastic” until another US mercenary said the Israeli officer had used a radio to communicate with snipers at a nearby base, ordering them to kill the children.

“One of the contractors…was an American that did speak Hebrew. He said, ‘Hey. He just told the snipers…to take these kids out’,” Aguilar said.

When Aguilar confronted the Israeli colonel, he replied, “I’m gonna take care of this if you don’t”.

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