Israel is set to transfer the responsibility of humanitarian aid distribution in the Gaza Strip to some newly-formed private organizations, but in a new project that was developed in Israel, according to a New York Times investigation, citing Israeli officials and others familiar with the plan's conception.
Many of these private organizations are to take the place of UN agencies and experienced aid groups, and also do not disclose any financial backers, the report added.
The individuals the NYT cited spoke on condition of anonymity, and said that the plan was to undermine Hamas's control of the Strip, and prevent any food or aid from finding its way to the terrorist organization's hands.
The plan was also developed in order to circumvent the United Nations, citing the lack of trust Israeli officials have over the intergovernmental organization as their main reasoning, the report said.
Hiring foreign contractors to distribute the aid
The plan also included hiring American contractors for food distribution in the enclave, thereby finding a way around the UN.
Former senior CIA officer Philip F. Reilly is providing security for the project, and former US Marine Jake Wood is heading the project's fundraising through his nonprofit, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which would replace a system in place run by the UN where civilians collect food from hundreds of areas across Gaza, the report said.
The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation has no funding from Israel, and has “the necessary autonomy to operate independently," the NYT cited Wood as saying. “I would participate in no plan in any capacity if it were an extension of an IDF plan or an Israeli government plan to forcibly dislocate people anywhere within Gaza.”
Reilly said that four distribution sites in southern Gaza would be secured by his group, Safe Reach Solutions, all while under IDF control, the NYT said.
The NYT added that the initiative, which presented itself as neutral and independent, had first been discussed in private meetings of IDF officers and businesspeople with close ties to the Israeli government in the earliest weeks of the war, in a group that referred to itself as the Mikveh Yisrael Forum. The report said that they then managed to garner support from the IDF and the government in 2024.
The NYT cited UN officials saying that the plan restricts aid to certain areas of Gaza, and saying that it forces civilians to walk for miles to reach any aid.
The report also mentioned a network that formed, comprising Israelis who believed that the IDF and government had no vision for Gaza's future, and sought to invest in developing one.
This network included strategic consultant Yotam HaCohen and tech investor Liran Tancman, both of whom joined COGAT, as well as venture capitalist Michael Eisenberg.
Both Tancman and HaCohen reportedly met with Reilly and "promoted him to Israel's military and political leadership," the NYT report said, citing individuals familiar with the meeting.
Reilly worked with the IDF to develop new models for food distribution in the Gaza Strip, the NYT cited a document by the Virginia-based consulting firm Orbis.