Israel to use US military contractors in new Gaza aid scheme

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.

As reported by the Washington Post, the contractors will be supplied by UG Solutions and Safe Reach Solutions — the same American contractors previously involved in checkpoint and security maintenance in the Gaza Strip during the since-broken ceasefire, as Axios reported back in January.

Israel’s push for control of aid distribution in the Gaza Strip is a condition for lifting its more than two-month blockade, leading Gaza toward famine. According to its proposal, Israeli soldiers would guard the periphery of the aid distribution hub, where about 60 trucks of food would be allowed into the strip per day — a mere tenth of the volume permitted during the ceasefire. Under the plan, the American military contractors would handle the aid distribution from there. All existing soup kitchens and distribution centers would be shuttered.