‘War-zone Uber’ reveals pitch to Israel to send aid into Gaza

An American logistics firm has revealed further details of a plan it says it has discussed with Israeli government officials to use mercenaries to secure and deliver aid supplies into northern Gaza.

The head of the firm, Global Delivery Company (GDC), told Middle East Eye that the plan, which involves setting up a distribution hub at a former Hamas-run customs facility, is supported by defence and military officials but has not been approved by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office.

Moti Kahana accused Netanyahu of “playing politics” with aid and said that with the dismissal of Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant and the election of Donald Trump as US president, it remains unclear what direction the government will take.

“I think Trump will let the Israeli government do potentially what they want,” Kahana told MEE, stressing that he would not support the creation of Jewish settlements in Gaza.

Kahana said: “A part of the government is looking at things I will not be part of. I am not interested to bring settlers into Gaza. I am interested to help civilians.”

Kahana appears to be well-connected in security circles. GDC’s board and advisors, according to its website, include a number of former senior Israeli and US military and intelligence officials.

His comments appear to raise further questions about Israel’s failure to deliver critically needed aid into northern Gaza during a weeks-long bombardment in which hundreds of people have been killed and more than 400,000 civilians have been ordered to evacuate to the south of the Palestinian enclave.

They also come amid deepening dissent in Israel about the future direction of the war in Gaza after Gallant was reported to have told the families of hostages following his dismissal that Israeli forces had achieved all their objectives and had “nothing left to do” there.

Netanyahu’s appointment of Israel Katz, who is seen as a hardline supporter of the prime minister, was interpreted by many as an indication of his intent to continue the war.

Kahana, an American-Israeli businessman who has described his New Jersey-based company as “like a war-zone Uber”, told MEE that he had worked on its proposal for Gaza with Israeli defence and military officials and that it had been on the table for months.

“It was actually done together with Cogat in the Cogat office in Tel Aviv,” he said, referring to the Israeli government body responsible for its activities in the occupied Palestinian territories.

Last month, it was reported that GDC’s proposal had been discussed at a cabinet meeting on 20 October.

Kahana told MEE he had been told ahead of that meeting that the cabinet had “taken a decision to make a decision”. However, the cabinet then “decided not to decide” and sent the proposal back to the defence ministry, he said.

Kahana said there were uncertainties over who would pay for the plan and said he was also discussing the matter with international institutions.

“The Ministry of Defense told me that if we are paying, it will have to go into a bidding system,” he said.

MEE has contacted Netanyahu’s office and the defence ministry for comment.

‘Symbolic control’

GDC’s plan, seen by MEE and briefly made public on GDC’s website earlier this week, proposes setting up an aid distribution hub at a former customs warehouse near the Beit Hanoun (Erez) crossing, the main entry point to northern Gaza from Israel.

It says that using the site in the Beit Hanoun area would serve to demonstrate “symbolic control of [a] former Hamas facility”.

About 100 mercenaries, subcontracted by GDC, would be deployed to secure the site and provide protection for convoys of trucks making the short journey from Israel.

It proposes a permanent 40-strong guard force for the aid hub, with two seven-man teams in armoured cars providing security for convoys of up to 20 aid trucks and backed up by two heavily armed 13-man quick response teams.

The proposal, titled “Gaza Pilot Concept”, also calls for the creation of a “gated community” in the town of Beit Hanoun, protected by an outer cordon secured by Israeli forces, with aid also distributed to locations in nearby Beit Lahia and the Jabalia refugee camp.

It notes that the population of Beit Hanoun was 70,000 prior to October 2023, but most locals have since been displaced to nearby Jabalia.

“Close coordination with Cogat and IDF Southern Command is key,” it states.

Security teams would “maintain constant communications with IDF to ensure real-time situational awareness and common operating picture”.

Cogat would “recommend points of contact within the Palestinian community in Gaza to assist with the receipt and distribution” of aid, while GDC would “hire linguists from within the Palestinian population”.

Despite recommending the creation of a permanently manned aid hub, the document notes that the facility would become a “permanent target” that would require 24/7 availability of medical evacuation helicopters.

Kahana told MEE that GDC’s plan was modelled on the American system of using private security contractors in Iraq following the 2003 invasion.

“If you look at what General [David] Petraeus did in Iraq, he called that a gated community. The Israelis are calling that a humanitarian bubble,” he said.

“I don’t do bubbles and I don’t build ghettos. I do safe communities for civilians.”

Kahana last month told Israel’s Ynetnews that the sub-contractor used by his company was made up of “former soldiers from elite units in the US, UK and France”.

“They’ve been in Baghdad and Kabul… The company is made up of ‘war junkies’, people who love fighting bad guys,” he was quoted as saying.

However, speaking to MEE, Kahana insisted that the operation would be humanitarian-led.

“You don’t want special forces guys to be the lead because people will die,” he said.

‘Forced displacement’

Palestinians in Gaza are facing a worsening humanitarian catastrophe after Israel’s parliament last month voted to ban operations inside Israel by Unrwa, the United Nations aid agency for Palestinian refugees.

On Monday, Unrwa said that Israel’s ban on its operations would “cause the collapse of the international humanitarian operation in the Gaza Strip”.

Israel has been repeatedly criticised by international humanitarian organisations over allegations that it has blocked and delayed the delivery of aid into Gaza since the start of its war against Hamas last October.

In a statement last month, 38 aid organisations, including Oxfam, Action Aid and Islamic Relief, warned that northern Gaza was being “wiped off the map”.

They said no food had been allowed into the area since 1 October, and civilians were being starved and bombed.

“Under the guise of ‘evacuation’, Israeli forces have ordered the forced displacement of an estimated 400,000 Palestinians trapped in northern Gaza, including Gaza City. This is not an evacuation – this is forced displacement under gunfire,” the statement said.

Israeli forces have also been accused of implementing a campaign of ethnic cleansing known as the “Generals’ Plan” in areas of northern Gaza, including Beit Hanoun, Beit Lahia and Jabalia.

Residents have been ordered to move to southern Gaza, and those who have stayed have been denied access to food, water and medical supplies while being subjected to daily bombardment.

On 19 October, at least 73 people were killed in Israeli air strikes targeting a multi-storey building in Beit Lahia. Israeli forces also surrounded and shelled the area’s Indonesian Hospital.

The assault on northern Gaza has so far killed at least 1,300 Palestinians, according to local officials. 

Overall, Israel’s war on Gaza has killed nearly 43,400 people and wounded 102,000 more since 7 October 2023, the majority of whom are children and women, according to the Palestinian health ministry.