Members of the Trump administration and companies well-connected to the Republican Party are competing for ongoing logistics and reconstruction contracts in the devastated Gaza Strip, as well as the humanitarian aid sector, according to documents and testimony to which they have had access. Tutor.
The upcoming rebuild could be a lucrative reward for companies specializing in construction, demolition, transportation and logistics. After two years of Israeli attacks, and with three-quarters of the structures in the Gaza Strip damaged or destroyed, the United Nations estimated the total cost at $70 billion (around 60 billion euros).
But it is not yet possible to sign long-term reconstruction or humanitarian aid contracts. The Peace Board chaired by Donald Trump to administer the territory, supported by the United Nations, has not yet been created. There is currently a Civil-Military Coordination Center, but its powers are limited.
On the other hand, the White House created its own Task Force under the leadership of Jared Kushner, Steve Witkoff and Aryeh Lightstone.
Tutor has learned that the negotiations within the group on humanitarian aid and the reconstruction of Gaza are being led by two former public employees of the Department of Government Efficiency (or DOGE, for its acronym in English) then led by Elon Musk to reduce public spending and lay off a large number of federal workers. These two people handed out presentations detailing plans for logistics operations, with pricing, financial projections and even possible warehouse locations.
The companies surrounding the loot are American. One candidate is Gothams LLC, the politically connected contractor that won a $33 million contract to run “Alligator Alcatraz,” the controversial South Florida detention center where immigrants are housed in trailers and tents, it has been reported. Tutor.
The contractor had “inside information” to be awarded a contract that could be the most lucrative in its history, according to the documents and according to testimony from three sources familiar with the plans. After the questions of TutorMatt Michelsen, founder of Gothams LLC, said he reconsidered his participation and was withdrawing from the prize due to safety concerns.
After two years of Israeli attacks, and with three-quarters of the structures in the Gaza Strip damaged or directly destroyed, the United Nations estimated the total cost at $70 billion.
Tutor He asked a series of detailed questions about the process to Eddie Vásquez, spokesman for the White House task force on Gaza, but did not receive a response. In an email, Vásquez wrote that this article “reveals a fundamental lack of knowledge about the functioning of the Gaza team and the current situation.” “We are in the early stages of planning and many ideas and proposals are being discussed with no final decisions made,” he wrote.
Several sources claim that the entrepreneurs traveled to the region to meet influential American officials and potential business partners before the start of the vacation. “Everyone is trying to get a piece,” says a seasoned entrepreneur who knows the details of the process. “People see this as a new Iraq or a new Afghanistan and they are trying to get rich. »
1.45 billion for a “project manager”
The UN backed Trump’s Gaza plan in November. Even as Trump and Kushner considered luxury resorts in the region, much of the international community hopes that reconstruction of the strip will be done with the aim of making it a livable home for its 2.1 million Palestinian residents. Israel still controls half of the Gaza Strip and has already said it will not allow reconstruction of the other half, overseen by Hamas, until the group surrenders its weapons.
Two former DOGE employees visited the region in the fall, as projects for the post-war Gaza Strip proliferated. One of them is Josh Gruenbaum, a member of the General Services Administration who served as a senior adviser to the Gaza Task Force. The other is Adam Hoffman, 25, a Princeton graduate who joined Musk’s DOGE in March. Two people who have dealt directly with Hoffman say he is the driving force behind the latest projects. “The feeling is that whatever these guys say is going to happen,” says one person familiar with the process. “At least that’s the perception.”
Hoffman’s journey as a conservative political activist began as a teenager. According to a profile published in 2020 by the Jewish Telegraphic Agency (an international news agency), at the age of 14, he was already working as a volunteer for Greg Abbott, the Republican governor of Texas. Before finishing college, he worked briefly at the Council of Economic Advisers in the first Trump administration. At Princeton, he denounced anti-Semitism on campus when a prominent critic of the Israeli government was invited to speak at a Gaza solidarity event.
If the “prime contractor” acts quickly, it could generate gross revenues of around 1.45 billion euros per year from road transport charges alone.
Hoffman is putting together ideas for a new logistics plan in the Gaza Strip, according to three people familiar with the process. Tutor was given access to a planning document detailing a new “logistics architecture for the Gaza supply system”. Described as “confidential but unclassified” and distributed by Hoffman, according to sources, the document discusses the need for a “prime contractor” capable of sending 600 humanitarian and commercial trucks to Gaza each day. He also suggests imposing a $2,000 fee for each shipment of humanitarian aid and a $12,000 fee for commercial trucks (around 1,700 and around 10,200 euros respectively).
By operating as a concessionary entity, the document states, the contractor could “obtain a fair return” on humanitarian and commercial trucks entering Gaza. If the “project manager” acts quickly, Tutor estimates that it could obtain a gross income of 1.7 billion dollars per year (around 1.45 billion euros) thanks to taxes on road transport alone.
Road transport will be vitally important in any reconstruction effort in Gaza. Before the war, around 500 trucks a day entered the enclave with essential imports for a population subjected to an Israeli military blockade for decades.
Israel has intermittently blocked entries and exits from the Gaza Strip since October 7, 2023, limiting access to such basic items as food, fuel and construction materials. The ceasefire agreement signed in October established the daily entry of 600 trucks carrying humanitarian aid, but Israel has limited this entry to an average of only 140 trucks per day.
Historically, the United Nations has been involved in providing humanitarian aid to Gaza, providing basic goods, education and health care to more than 80% of residents.
It is unclear what role the United Nations and other humanitarian organizations will play in Gaza’s future. Israeli authorities control access permissions for all groups working inside Gaza, including for-profit contractors who are now seeking deals with the Peace Council.
None of these people have any humanitarian goals or experience in humanitarian aid, it’s a bunch of nonsense.
Amed Khan
— American philanthropist
“None of these people have any humanitarian goals or experience in humanitarian aid, it’s stupidity,” says American philanthropist Amed Khan, who supplies medicine to the Gaza Strip through the foundation that bears his name. According to him, the reconstruction plan is erroneous and absurd. “There is no increase in medicines or medical equipment,” he accused.
Tutor was given access to a proposal that Gothams’ CFO signed to send to the Peace Board. “Responding to the request for submission of proposals to the future Peace Council,” the text says, proposing a “fully integrated humanitarian logistics system to support large-scale aid operations in Gaza.”
Gothams has used suppliers and subcontractors and is clearly favored to handle logistics, according to testimony from three people. Michelsen, the founder, is a politically connected Republican who has donated large sums of money to Greg Abbott and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
Risk of public funds for the favorite candidate
Michelsen founded Gothams in 2019 to move into the disaster response business after a long career that brought him into contact with artists Lady Gaga and 50 Cent, as well as Silicon Valley moguls including executives at Meta and Palantir.
The company has seen remarkable growth in recent years thanks to generous government contracts. He has raised hundreds of millions of dollars in state funds for COVID-19-related programs during the pandemic, as well as to provide logistical services to the booming state detention center sector.
The review Texas Observer published in 2022 that Michelsen donated $250,000 to Abbott’s election campaign (approximately €215,000), the same year that the state of Texas awarded Gothams a $43 million contract (approximately €37 million). According to Michelsen, the reason he donated to Abbott was because he liked him. “I support Abbott,” he said.
In an interview with TutorMichelsen said he could not say much about the plans for Gaza and was not willing to talk about Hoffman, Gruenbaum or the process. “I agreed not to say anything about the government,” he said.
What Michelsen said was that plans had changed dramatically over the past two weeks, increasing in scale. “The original principle has changed,” he said. “It has changed significantly,” he added.
Michelsen responds that the questions of Tutor led him to withdraw from the recruitment project in Gaza. “Your questions really touched me,” he said. He added that he had just made the decision and was communicating it to Tutor even before Gothams staff. He worried about bad publicity, he said, and potential risks to his safety if he moved forward. “Gothams will not participate,” he said.
Michelsen also promised that if he changed his mind again, he would let everyone know. Tutor.
Translation of Francisco de Zárate
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