Israel is considering an American company to biometrically screen Palestinians in the Gaza Strip

Israel is reportedly considering a plan to use private American logistics and security companies to create a “gated settlement” in the Gaza Strip where Palestinians would be biometrically screened to receive aid.

Drop Site News reported Monday, citing Israeli media, that Israel’s military cabinet discussed the proposals on Sunday and is set to approve a “pilot” program within the next two months.

According to Israeli news outlet Ynet, Global Delivery Company (GDC), run by Israeli-American businessman Mordechai Kahana, is in talks with the Israeli government to launch the program.

Israel has long discussed the idea of ​​so-called “humanitarian bubbles” in northern Gaza, under which it would allow aid into an area if it deems there is no militant presence there.

Much of the northern Gaza Strip, particularly the Jabaliya refugee camp, has been under total siege for the past 17 days, with Israeli forces denying food, clean water and medical supplies.

In January, the International Court of Justice issued an interim order ordering Israel to take immediate steps to provide urgent basic services and humanitarian assistance to Gaza.

Israel has since been accused of repeatedly violating the order.

It is unclear whether the Israeli government is considering other private security firms or just the GDC proposal.

An American private security firm will need Senate approval to offer armed services to the Israeli government.

“Uber for war zones”

Kahana described his commercial business as “the Uber of war zones” and said he has served in five wars in the past 14 years: Afghanistan, Syria, Iraq, Ukraine and the Gaza Strip.

“Personnel working for our security subcontractor are trained and equipped with non-lethal and lethal crowd control techniques. They are trained to use lethal force only as a last resort when their lives are in danger,” the GDC said in a press release Monday evening.

Stuart Seldowitz, the former US official who was charged with a hate crime after insulting a street food vendor, was a senior adviser on humanitarian diplomacy at GDC.

Although GDC has severed ties with Seldowitz, Kahana told Drop Site News that he is open to working with the former Gaza official.

Kahana himself has made several inflammatory comments, including calling Palestinian-American lawmaker Rashida Tlaib “Hamas’ ambassador to the United States” in November.

He also joked about the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in Gaza and their resettlement in Jordan.

GDC’s staff includes former high-ranking Israeli military officers and former US military and intelligence officers.

In May, multiple media reports indicated that Israel was in talks with US security firms to manage the Rafah crossing between the Gaza Strip and Egypt, which Israeli forces had seized control of.

A few days after the reports, Kahana wrote on social media that he would be “assisting with humanitarian supplies” in Gaza, suggesting that the GDC could be involved in managing the transition.

At least 42,500 Palestinians, mostly women and children, have been killed in the Gaza Strip since the war began last October, with thousands more missing and presumed dead. During this time, more than 99,000 more people were wounded.

MEE reported that during a conference near the Gaza Strip on Sunday, an Israeli settler leader said Palestinians would “disappear” from the territory.

“We came here with one clear goal: the goal is to populate the entire Gaza Strip, not just part of it, not just a few settlements, the entire Gaza Strip from north to south,” Danielle Weiss said.

Weiss, leader of the Orthodox settler movement Beginnings, which organized the conference, said six settler groups and more than 700 families want to settle in Gaza.

The conference was attended by Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir and members of the Knesset from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party.

“As a result of the brutal massacre on October 7, the Arabs of Gaza lost the right to be here forever, so they will disperse to different countries of the world. They won’t stay here,” Weiss said.

She said settlers who moved to Gaza would “see Jews leaving for Gaza and Arabs disappearing from Gaza.”