Israel reportedly considering using private American company to distribute aid in Gaza

A pilot plan could start in Jabaliya after the IDF operation ends. Israel's defense establishment has been in contact with the U.S.-based security firm Orbis to discuss a pilot program for distributing aid in the northern Gaza Strip, Ynet News reported on Tuesday. This comes amid ongoing issues with the looting of aid trucks in the region.

Over the last few days, several incidents of looting have been reported by UN agencies working in Gaza. UNRWA Senior Emergency Officer Louise Wateridge told Reuters that 98 of 109 aid trucks were raided on Saturday.

A joint 109-truck @UN convoy carrying food supplies to people in #Gaza was violently looted on 16 November. The vast majority of the trucks, 97 in total, were lost and drivers were forced at gunpoint to unload aid.

Due to critical shortages of flour, all eight UN-supported… pic.twitter.com/59RHJKWLAU

— UNRWA (@UNRWA) November 18, 2024

Several humanitarian officials told Agence France-Presse that almost half the aid that enters Gaza is looted, especially basic supplies. The UN has failed to identify who is looting the trucks and commandeering the aid.

Reporter: “You don’t know who looted those 97 UN trucks in Gaza?”

UN: “We’re not asking questions” pic.twitter.com/zog7p8ur4B

— Open Source Intel (@Osint613) November 19, 2024

Israel says that Hamas is partially responsible for this, and has released photos, videos and even audio recordings to back up its claims.

The Hamas-run al-Aqsa TV channel quoted sources with the terror group who confirmed that their security personnel interfered with a recent looting attempt. The channel claimed that over 20 gang members involved in looting were killed by its security forces in a recent confrontation.

While Israel inspects all aid entering Gaza and the IDF, along with COGAT, manages several entry points into the Strip, the IDF has refused to take responsibility for food distribution within Gaza. Instead, the Israeli government has been pursuing other solutions, which include the pilot program with Orbis.

According to Hebrew media reports, the company has already formulated a preliminary plan for aid distribution in northern Gaza. However, the reports cited sources familiar with the matter, who called the plan "very problematic."

Orbis does not typically handle humanitarian aid distribution and will reportedly rely on subcontractors for this task, according to the reports.

This plan was reportedly discussed in a recent meeting between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and several ministers including Defense Minister Israel Katz, Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich.

The issue of humanitarian aid to Gaza has been a point of friction between the Biden administration and Netanyahu’s government over the past year and even led to a threat of a U.S. arms embargo.

The U.S. recently announced that Israel had taken “a number of steps ” to address American concerns.

On Tuesday, U.S. State Department Spokesman Matthew Miller announced that a joint Israeli-U.S. panel will meet in December to discuss Israel's potential violations of international law.

Miller said the purpose of the panel is to advance the State Department's investigations into the use of U.S. weapons by Israel, and to obtain answers on incidents that “are a cause of concern or a cause of question.”

Miller also said looting would not end “without an end to the war and the establishment of a new governance and security authority inside Gaza.”

The IDF has previously fired on looters, and the government has reportedly told the military to intensify offensive actions against looters of humanitarian aid in the Gaza Strip to make sure aid does not pass to crime families and Hamas terrorists.

On Wednesday morning, Israeli journalist Doron Kadosh, posted a thread on 𝕏 stating that the IDF’s recent operations in Jabaliya have also been an attempt to prepare the area for the distribution of humanitarian aid through a private company, possibly Orbis.

Kadosh said that both Netanyahu and Katz support the plan, which would also require a long-term IDF presence in the area.