UG Solutions, a major United States military subcontractor that helped provide security for the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, is intensifying recruitment amid indications that several new aid distribution sites could be opened across Gaza next month.
A former army officer who applied for a role with the firm told the US-based outlet Dropsite News, which first revealed the story, that he was interviewed in late October.
During that meeting, he was told that between twelve and fifteen sites were already being prepared and that the company would, in the interviewer’s words, ‘need a lot more guys’.
He requested anonymity because he feared for his safety.
The disclosure emerges at a moment when Gaza’s political future is being reshaped.
Earlier this week, the Security Council approved a United States sponsored resolution that authorises the creation of what Washington calls an international stabilisation force in Gaza.
The force is not to be placed under UN command but under a Trump-chaired body known as the Board of Peace.
The committee would hold extensive powers over reconstruction, security policy, economic planning, and the coordination of humanitarian distribution.
Private military involvement in aid operations in Gaza began in May, when the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation opened four distribution points guarded by UG Solutions subcontractors, many of them former US service members.
During the four and a half months the foundation operated in the Strip, more than 2,600 Palestinians seeking food were killed and over 19,000 injured by Israeli forces or by the contractors guarding those sites.
The sites were dismantled on 10 October after the United States brokered ceasefire came into effect.
The applicant said the UG Solutions official who interviewed him by phone, named as Joel Reyes, gave a tentative deployment date of early to mid-December for the new operation.
According to the applicant, Reyes said deployments would last about ninety days and that the pay would be 800 dollars per day for static duties and 1,000 dollars for mobile work, in addition to a 180-dollar daily allowance.
When the applicant asked what the duties would involve, Reyes replied that it would be ‘pulling security’.
Asked whether the company was indeed preparing for new distribution sites and a December deployment, UG Solutions’ senior vice-president for government affairs, Jennifer Counter, said in an email that the company was preparing for ‘a wide range of potential scenarios in Gaza, ranging from an advisory role based on our experience from January 2025 to the present day, to a robust security presence in support of humanitarian aid delivery and possible technical assistance to the International Security Force’.
Other developments indicate a widening American footprint. On 25 September, the day after the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation’s 30-million-dollar contract expired, the United States awarded a new five-year contract worth seven million dollars to Q2IMPACT, a firm tasked with monitoring humanitarian assistance in Palestine and Lebanon.
Q2IMPACT’s announcements say that senior advisers include Rob Jenkins, who once led USAID’s Office of Transition Initiatives, and Sean Jones, formerly a USAID mission manager in Egypt.
The applicant first approached UG Solutions in June. In late July he received an email from Patrick Shoaff, a former Green Beret who serves as the company’s director of mission support and integration, informing him that his candidacy had advanced.
He heard nothing further until Reyes telephoned at the end of October.
Four days later he received a message saying he was ‘prequalified for consideration in an upcoming overseas operation’ in ‘a high-threat environment’ and that a second interview would soon be arranged.
That second interview took place in early November. Another company representative, whose name the applicant declined to reveal, examined his military history in far greater depth, asked him to describe an ‘ethical dilemma’ he had once faced in uniform, and told him that anyone accepted for the role would undergo three to four days of training at a facility in New Bern, North Carolina.
The representative said the course would include work on ‘rules of escalation’, humanitarian operations, weapons testing, and a series of other modules.
The applicant said he was also asked whether he would take instructions from someone of lower rank and whether he would be willing to work with UG Solutions for an extended period.
A few days later, the applicant received an email from Reyes saying his application was unsuccessful because the recruitment process was highly competitive.
The work of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation and its contractors has been contentious from the outset. In late August, as ceasefire negotiations continued and Israel’s genocidal assault on Gaza intensified, Hamas removed language from the negotiations that would have prevented the foundation from remaining in the Strip after the agreement.
The concession was one of several made during those talks.
Asked if UG Solutions had been discussing renewed security work at prospective aid sites, Counter said: ‘We are prepared to provide security services to humanitarian aid sites in Gaza should the Board of Peace determine that distribution locations or storage areas need our skills and expertise.’
She added that UG Solutions remained in ‘ongoing discussions with relevant stakeholders’ about conditions on the ground and the company’s previous experience. According to Counter, the Security Council resolution of 17 November is expected to clarify planning for Gaza and the company is ready to act quickly if called upon.
The conduct of UG Solutions staff during the earlier deployment drew international attention soon after operations began.
In July, video footage and testimony from two guards, published by the Associated Press, revealed that contractors were firing live rounds, stun grenades, and other munitions during almost every distribution, including occasions where no threat was present.
Later that month, a subcontractor named Anthony Aguilar resigned, saying that Palestinian civilians seeking food were being subjected to war crimes and crimes against humanity at the distribution points, which he described as ‘death traps’.
In August, multiple reporting outlets revealed that UG Solutions had hired members of a US biker gang known for anti-Muslim rhetoric as part of the Gaza deployment.
Counter was also asked whether the company was recruiting specifically for Gaza.
She replied that recruitment was ‘ongoing for Gaza and several other international projects, most of which require the same skill set that we deployed to Gaza’.
She added that many personnel who had worked there this year were ‘eager to return to the Strip because they believe in the humanitarian mission there, built relationships with members of the community, and wish to help those suffering from the effects of war’.
Last month, the North Carolina chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations and several other groups urged the state’s secretary of state and attorney general to investigate UG Solutions.
‘Companies incorporated in North Carolina must not be complicit in war crimes or human rights abuses abroad,’ said Al Rieder, the manager of CAIR-NC.
‘The evidence that a North Carolina-based company allegedly participated in attacks on starving civilians in Gaza is horrifying. We are urging the state’s top officials to uphold the law and ensure that North Carolina is not used as a base for operations that contribute to the suffering of innocent people.’
Since the ceasefire came into effect on 10 October, Israel has continued to attack Gaza, killing at least 290 Palestinians.
It has also blocked the agreed 600 daily aid trucks, a figure the United Nations has previously said is the minimum required to meet basic needs.
The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification declared a famine in the Strip in August.
More than 450 Palestinians, including over 150 children, died from starvation and malnutrition between October 2023 and the end of September, according to Gaza’s health ministry.
