"Israel considering US firm for biometric screening of Palestinians in Gaza", 22 October 2024

Israel is considering a plan to deploy private US logistics and security companies to create a "gated community" in Gaza where Palestinians would be subjected to biometric screenings to receive aid, according to media reports....

...Israel's war cabinet discussed the proposals on Sunday, and was set to approve a "pilot" programme within the next two months.

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

Israel has long discussed the idea of so-called "humanitarian bubbles" in northern Gaza, in which it would allow aid into an area if it deemed there was no presence of fighters.

Large parts of northern Gaza, in particular the Jabalia refugee camp, have been under a total siege over the past 17 days, with Israeli forces not allowing any food, clean water and medical supplies to enter...

Kahana has described his for-profit business as "Uber for war zones", and said that it has operated in five wars in the past 14 years, in Afghanistan, Syria, Iraq, Ukraine and Gaza.

"Personnel working for our security sub-contractor are trained and equipped for non-lethal and lethal methods of crowd control. They are trained to use deadly force only as a last resort if their lives are in danger," GDC said in a press release on Monday evening.

Stuart Seldowitz, a former US official who was charged with a hate crime after abusing a street food vendor, was a senior humanitarian diplomacy consultant for GDC.

While GDC has cut ties with Seldowitz, Kahana told Drop Site News that he was open to working with the former official in Gaza.

Kahana himself has made several inflammatory comments, including in November calling Palestinian-American lawmaker Rashida Tlaib Hamas's "ambassador to the US".

He has also joked about ethnically cleansing Palestinians in Gaza and moving them to Jordan.

GDC's operatives include former high rank Israeli military officers and former American military and intelligence operatives...