US contractor behind 'Alligator Alcatraz' was frontrunner for Gaza aid project: Report Submitted by MEE staff on Mon, 12/15/2025 - 20:17 Project would tap US contractor to oversee aid deliveries into Gaza, reaching up to $1.7bn Displaced Palestinians ride on a horse-pulled cart through floodwaters in Gaza City, on 15 December 2025 (Omar al-Qatta/AFP) Off The US contractor behind a Florida detention centre dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz” submitted a proposal to manage aid flows into Gaza that could be worth around $1.7bn, according to a report by The Guardian. The company, Gotham LLC, had an “inside track” to oversee the flow of aid into Gaza, according to the report, but its owner, Matt Michelsen, told the newspaper that he decided to pull out of the bidding process after being contacted for the story. The plan is spearheaded by two young American political appointees working for a team led by US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and his lieutenant in Gaza, American rabbi Aryeh Lightstone. Gotham LLC gained attention earlier this year for constructing a migrant detention centre in the Florida Everglades, dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz”. Alcatraz refers to the notorious, isolated former prison in San Francisco Bay that is now a popular tourist destination. The Florida facility was built in just eight days in Florida’s Big Cypress National Preserve, which is surrounded by marshlands containing pythons and alligators. Images of the facility showed rows of bunk beds caged by chain-link fences. A federal judge in Miami ordered the facility to be shut down in August. 'Master' contractors The Guardian report suggests that the Trump administration is again leaning on big US contractors, which make their money from American taxpayers, to play a role in Gaza. Rain and rubble: Gaza families face a double threat in makeshift homes Read More » The plans recall the type of projects that defined US intervention in places like Iraq and Afghanistan two decades ago. It envisions a “Master Contractor” to supply 600 humanitarian and commercial truckloads of aid to Gaza per day. According to documents reported by The Guardian, the contractor would charge a $2,000 fee per humanitarian load and $12,000 for commercial trucks. The report does not say who would pay the fees. Last month, Lightstone confirmed that a team of US officials were living in Tel Aviv and working on a plan to build housing compounds, dubbed “Alternative Safe Communities”, in Gaza. The team does not encompass career diplomats, intelligence or humanitarian officials, but former members of Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency or "Doge". They are based in the luxury beachfront Kempinski and Hilton hotels in Tel Aviv, The New York Times reported. One of the officials, according to The Guardian, is Josh Gruenbaum, an appointee to the General Services Administration, an agency of the US federal government that oversees properties, procurement and IT support. Another official is Adam Hoffman, a 25-year-old Princeton graduate, who worked for Doge and was previously a conservative Jewish-American activist. At one point, he was a junior researcher at the Israeli think-tank, the Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies at Tel Aviv University, according to an online biography. Matt Michelsen, who founded Gotham, has profited heavily from government contracts, according to the report. His firm capitalised on contracts awarded during the US government-imposed Covid-19 lockdowns and supplied logistics to state-run detention operations. Michelsen told The Guardian that following their questions, his company “will not be participating” in the Gaza plan. Israel's genocide in Gaza News Post Date Override 0 Update Date Mon, 05/04/2020 - 21:19 Update Date Override 0