CAIRO/ TEL AVIV – A Hamas government media office rejected accusations by the U.S. State Department that the group was involved in a Saturday attack that injured two Americans at an aid distribution site in Gaza, it said on Sunday.

The U.S. and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation said on Saturday the injured American aid workers were receiving medical treatment after a grenade attack caused non-life-threatening injuries.

A representative for UG Solutions, a North Carolina-based company providing security at GHF’s aid distribution sites in Gaza, told Reuters on Sunday that the injured Americans were employed as private security contractors.

The contractors were former U.S. special forces and did not open fire after they were injured in order to avoid risking harm to nearby civilians, the person said.

The Hamas-run media office described the U.S. accusation as misleading, saying it was aimed at justifying “the continued killing and starvation of Palestinian civilians”.

“We categorically and unequivocally reject the claims issued by the U.S. State Department alleging that the Palestinian resistance threw explosives at American personnel operating at sites run by the so-called “Gaza Humanitarian Foundation – GHF,” it said in a statement.

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(Reporting by Nidal Al-Mughrabi and Alexander Cornwell; Writing by Ahmed Tolba; Editing by Lisa Shumaker and Bill Berkrot)