{"id":309962,"date":"2025-12-15T12:01:31","date_gmt":"2025-12-15T12:01:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=309962"},"modified":"2025-12-15T06:05:03","modified_gmt":"2025-12-15T06:05:03","slug":"theyre-trying-to-get-rich-off-it-us-contractors-vie-to-rebuild-gaza-with-alligator-alcatraz-team-in-the-lead","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2025\/12\/theyre-trying-to-get-rich-off-it-us-contractors-vie-to-rebuild-gaza-with-alligator-alcatraz-team-in-the-lead\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018They\u2019re Trying to Get Rich Off It\u2019: US Contractors Vie to Rebuild Gaza with \u2018Alligator Alcatraz\u2019 Team in the Lead"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Homes and buildings destroyed by the Israeli military in the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, on 13 Dec 2025.\u00a0 Photograph: Eyad Baba\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/p><\/div>\n

Infamous group behind notorious Florida immigration detention center created bid for reconstruction deal.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

14 Dec 2025\u00a0–\u00a0<\/em>Trump administration insiders and well-connected Republican businesses have been jostling to dominate pending humanitarian aid and reconstruction logistics in the shattered Gaza Strip, according to sources and documents reviewed by the Guardian.<\/p>\n

With three-quarters<\/a> of Gaza\u2019s structures damaged or destroyed by two years of Israeli strikes, the rebuilding effort to come \u2013 estimated at $70bn by the United Nations<\/a> \u2013 could be a rich prize for companies that specialize in construction, demolition, transportation and logistics.<\/p>\n

But there\u2019s no way to issue long-term contracts for reconstruction or humanitarian aid yet: a Board of Peace, chaired by Donald Trump, was endorsed by the United Nations to administer the territory but is not yet in operation. And the mandate of the new Civil-Military Coordination Center is limited.<\/p>\n

Parallel to these official efforts, the White House has established its own Gaza<\/a> taskforce led by Jared Kushner, Steve Witkoff and Aryeh Lightstone.<\/p>\n

The Guardian has learned that two former Doge officials \u2013 once assigned to Elon Musk\u2019s effort to slash government and fire federal workers in bulk \u2013 are leading the group\u2019s conversations about humanitarian assistance and the postwar reconstruction of Gaza. They have circulated slide decks with detailed plans for logistics operations, including prices, financial projections and the locations of potential warehouses.<\/p>\n

US companies are gathering for the spoils. One contender, the Guardian has learned, is Gothams LLC, a politically connected contractor that won a $33m contract to help run the notorious<\/a> south Florida detention center nicknamed \u201cAlligator Alcatraz\u201d, where immigrants are housed in tents and trailers.<\/p>\n

Documents and three people familiar with the plans say that the contractor had an \u201cinside track\u201d to secure what might be the most lucrative contract it\u2019s ever had. <\/strong>But in an interview on Friday, after questions from the Guardian, the company\u2019s founder, Matt Michelsen, said he had reconsidered his company\u2019s participation and was pulling out, citing security concerns.<\/p>\n

Eddie Vasquez, a spokesperson for the White House Gaza taskforce, did not provide answers to detailed questions about the White House-led process. He said in an email that this story \u201cillustrates a fundamental ignorance of how the Gaza team operates and the current state of play. We are at the early stages of planning and there are many ideas and proposals currently being discussed with no final decisions having been made.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, sources say contractors have been flying to the region in order to meet with influential US officials and potential business partners before the holidays.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverybody and their brother is trying to get a piece of this,\u201d one long-time contractor familiar with the process . \u201cPeople are treating this like another Iraq or Afghanistan. And they\u2019re trying to get, you know, rich off of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

$1.7bn for a \u2018master contractor\u2019<\/h2>\n

In November, the UN endorsed Trump\u2019s plan for Gaza<\/a>.<\/p>\n

While Trump and Kushner both have envisioned wealthy resort concepts, most of the international community wishes to see Gaza rebuilt as a livable home for its 2.1 million Palestinian residents. Meanwhile, Israel continues to control half of the Gaza Strip, and has said it will forbid reconstruction on the half overseen by Hamas until the group disarms.<\/p>\n

Two former Doge officials were dispatched to the region as planning for postwar Gaza ramped up this fall. One was Josh Gruenbaum, an appointee to the General Services Administration now serving as a senior adviser to the Gaza taskforce. The other was Adam Hoffman, a 25-year-old Princeton graduate, who joined Elon Musk\u2019s Doge efforts last March. Two people who have dealt directly with the junior adviser say that Hoffman has become a driving force in the newest plans.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe impression is that whatever those guys say is going to happen,\u201d said a person familiar with the process. \u201cThat is the perception anyway.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hoffman has conservative political activist credentials going back to his teen years. At 14, he worked as a volunteer for the Republican governor of Texas, Greg Abbott, according to a 2020 profile<\/a> by the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. And even before finishing college, he briefly worked in Trump\u2019s first administration at the Council of Economic Advisors. At Princeton, he alleged there was antisemitism on campus after a prominent critic of the Israeli government was invited to speak<\/a> at a solidarity event with Gaza.<\/p>\n

Three sources familiar with the process say Hoffman has been soliciting ideas for a new logistics scheme in Gaza. The Guardian has reviewed a planning document, which the sources say was circulated by Hoffman, that details a new \u201cGaza Supply System Logistics Architecture\u201d.<\/p>\n

Labeled \u201cSensitive but Unclassified\u201d, Hoffman\u2019s planning document calls for a \u201cMaster Contractor\u201d to supply 600 humanitarian and commercial truckloads to Gaza per day. It suggests charging a $2,000 fee for every humanitarian load and a $12,000 fee to commercial trucks.<\/p>\n

By operating as a licensing entity, the contractor could \u201cearn a fair return\u201d off humanitarian and commercial clients entering Gaza, the document says. If a \u201cMaster Contractor\u201d performs apace, the Guardian estimates that they could gross $1.7bn a year on trucking fees alone.<\/p>\n

Trucking will be crucially important to any reconstruction efforts in Gaza. Before the war, about 500 trucks<\/a> entered the enclave each day, providing critical imports to a population that\u2019s lived under Israel\u2019s military blockade for decades.<\/p>\n

Since 7 October 2023, Israel has intermittently cut off all entry and exit to Gaza, limiting access to basic goods, including food, fuel and building supplies. While the ceasefire deal reached in October established that 600 trucks of aid would enter the territory daily, Israel has limited entry<\/a> to an average of only 140 trucks a day.<\/p>\n

Historically, the United Nations has participated in the delivery of humanitarian aid across Gaza \u2013 once supplying more than 80% of its residents with basic goods, education and healthcare.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s unclear what role the United Nations or other longtime humanitarian actors will play moving forward. Israeli authorities control access permits for all groups that work in Gaza, including the for-profit contractors lining up to consider future work with the Board of Peace.<\/p>\n

Amed Khan, an American philanthropist who runs the Amed Khan Foundation and delivers medicine to Gaza, said the reconstruction planning is flawed and buffoonish. \u201cNone of these people are humanitarians or have backgrounds in humanitarian assistance. It\u2019s a bunch of crap,\u201d he said. \u201cThere\u2019s no surge of medicine, no surge of medical equipment.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Guardian reviewed a proposal by Gothams, signed by the firm\u2019s chief financial officer and addressed to the Board of Peace. \u201cIn response to requests to provide a proposal to the future Board of Peace,\u201d Gothams wrote, it was offering a \u201cfully integrated humanitarian logistics system to support large scale aid operations into Gaza\u201d.<\/p>\n

Three sources say Gothams has been the apparent frontrunner to handle logistics, and has been lining up suppliers and subcontractors.<\/p>\n

Michelsen, the firm\u2019s founder, is a politically connected Republican who\u2019s donated extensively to Greg Abbott and Florida governor Ron DeSantis.<\/p>\n

After a wide-ranging career that brought him in contact with Lady Gaga, 50 Cent and several Silicon Valley tycoons, including executives at Meta and Palantir, Michelsen turned to the disaster-response business, founding Gothams in 2019.<\/p>\n

The company has had a remarkable rise in recent years thanks to lush government contracts. It was awarded hundreds of millions in government funding for running Covid-19 programs during the pandemic, and supplying logistics in the booming industry of state-run detention operations.<\/p>\n

In 2022, the Texas Observer reported that Michelsen donated a quarter-million dollars to Abbott\u2019s campaign efforts, the same year Texas awarded Gothams a $43m contract.<\/p>\n

Michelsen said he donated to Abbott because he likes him: \u201cI support Abbott.\u201d<\/p>\n

He told the Guardian on Friday that he was limited in how much he could say about Gaza plans, and was unwilling to discuss Hoffman, Gruenbaum or the process. \u201cI\u2019ve agreed not to share anything about the government,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Michelsen did say that the plans had changed drastically over the past two weeks, growing in scale. \u201cThe original premise has changed,\u201d he said. \u201cThis thing has changed massively.\u201d<\/p>\n

In his interview, Michelsen said questions from the Guardian had prompted him to pull out of the Gaza contracting effort. \u201cYour questions have really hit me,\u201d he said. He said he\u2019d just made the decision, and was notifying the Guardian before even telling Gothams\u2019 staff. He was concerned about bad publicity, he said, and about potential security risks, if he goes forward.<\/p>\n

\u201cGothams will not be participating,\u201d he said. \u201cI wish them well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Michelsen did promise, if he changes his mind again, to let the Guardian know.<\/p>\n

Go to Original – theguardian.com<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

14 Dec 2025\u00a0–\u00a0Infamous group behind notorious Florida immigration detention center created bid for reconstruction deal.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":309963,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[55],"tags":[3614,87,865,88,2416,1624,427,2418,2060,70],"class_list":["post-309962","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-capitalism","tag-disaster-capitalism","tag-gaza","tag-genocide","tag-israel","tag-israeli-occupation","tag-mafia","tag-palestine","tag-palestinian-rights","tag-profits","tag-usa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/309962","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=309962"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/309962\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":309964,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/309962\/revisions\/309964"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/309963"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=309962"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=309962"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=309962"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}