UG Solutions, a North Carolina–based U.S. military subcontractor already under scrutiny for its role in deadly aid-distribution operations in Gaza earlier this year, is quietly intensifying its recruitment of military veterans for what appears to be a new, expanded deployment inside the besieged Strip, Drop Site has learned. The move comes as the future governance of Gaza enters a volatile and unprecedented phase, following the U.N. Security Council’s approval this week of a U.S.-sponsored resolution establishing an “international stabilization force” answerable not to the United Nations but to a Trump-chaired “Board of Peace.”
A former U.S. Army infantry officer who applied for a position as an International Humanitarian Security Officer told Drop Site he was informed during an October 30 phone interview with UG Solutions official Joel Reyes that the company was preparing to guard 12 to 15 new aid distribution sites expected to open in Gaza by December. “They said they were going to need a lot more guys,” the former officer recalled, speaking on condition of anonymity due to security concerns.
If confirmed, the plan would represent a dramatic expansion of the private-contractor footprint in Gaza, where the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) — a controversial U.S.- and Israeli-backed aid entity – previously operated four distribution sites between May and mid-October. Those sites, guarded by contractors employed or subcontracted by UG Solutions, became synonymous with bloodshed.
A Deadly Record
During GHF’s four and a half months of operations, more than 2,600 Palestinians seeking food were killed and over 19,000 wounded at or near aid distribution points, according to Gaza health ministry data and independent humanitarian analyses. Several investigations by the Associated Press, the Guardian, Reuters, Le Monde, and other outlets documented disturbing patterns of violence by UG Solutions contractors:
- UG guards and subcontractors fired live ammunition, stun grenades and pepper spray at almost every aid distribution, “even if there was no threat,” according to two guards who spoke to AP.
- At least one contractor, Anthony Aguilar, resigned and blew the whistle on what he described as “war crimes and crimes against humanity”, calling the sites “death traps.”
- The Guardian and Times of Israel separately uncovered that UG Solutions had hired members of Infidels MC, an American biker gang known for anti-Muslim extremism, to work armed security at GHF sites.
The outcry has triggered calls for accountability. North Carolina’s chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-NC) and allied groups recently called for state-level investigations into UG Solutions for potential complicity in war crimes.
“Companies incorporated in North Carolina must not be complicit in war crimes or human rights abuses abroad,” CAIR-NC manager Al Rieder said.
Inside the New Recruitment Drive
Emails and interview notes reviewed by Drop Site paint a picture of an urgent, large-scale mobilization.
The former infantry officer who applied for the job said:
- Pay was quoted at $800/day for “static guard” work and $1,000/day for “mobile guard” duty, plus a $180 daily per diem.
- Deployments were expected to begin early to mid-December, lasting 90 days.
- Training would take place over three to four days in New Bern, North Carolina, covering “rules of escalation,” “humanitarian aid operations,” and weapons qualifications.
- Applicants were asked about “ethical dilemmas” encountered during military service and whether they would take orders from lower-ranked supervisors.
UG Solutions later informed the officer he had been rejected, saying the process was “very competitive.” Reyes, who conducted interviews, declined comment when contacted by Drop Site.
In an emailed response to Drop Site’s inquiries, UG Solutions’ senior vice president for government affairs, Jennifer Counter, would not confirm the number of planned sites but acknowledged the company was preparing for several “possible scenarios in Gaza,” ranging from advisory roles to “a robust security presence” in support of humanitarian aid.
“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,” Counter said, referencing the new Trump-chaired governing body authorized by the Security Council resolution.
A New Governance Regime for Gaza
This week’s U.N. vote approved the establishment of an international stabilization force whose command structure and scope are unprecedented. The force will fall outside traditional U.N. oversight and instead operate under the “Board of Peace,” chaired by former U.S. President Donald Trump. The body would wield sweeping authority over:
- security;
- reconstruction;
- economic policy; and
- the coordination of humanitarian aid.
Diplomats acknowledge privately that the model is designed to bypass long-standing disputes between Israel and the U.N. over humanitarian operations in Gaza — but human rights groups warn it may also grant extraordinary latitude to private contractors and foreign security forces, with limited accountability.
The U.S. has already signaled it is scaling up operations in Gaza beyond the GHF. A new $7 million, five-year contract was quietly initiated on September 25 with Q2IMPACT, a U.S. contractor tasked with “monitoring the efficacy of humanitarian aid in Palestine and Lebanon.” Senior advisers include Rob Jenkins, former head of USAID’s Office of Transition Initiatives, and Sean Jones, former USAID mission manager to Egypt.
The Humanitarian Context: Ceasefire in Name Only
The alleged new deployment comes amid a devastating humanitarian landscape.
Although a U.S.-brokered ceasefire went into effect on October 10, Israel has violated the deal repeatedly, killing at least 290 Palestinians since then, according to Gaza health authorities, and has refused to allow the agreed 600 aid trucks per day into Gaza — the minimum previously determined by the U.N. as necessary to sustain the population.
Meanwhile:
- The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), the world’s leading authority on famine assessments, formally declared a famine in Gaza in August.
- More than 450 Palestinians, including over 150 children, have died from starvation or malnutrition since October 2023.
The deadly chaos at earlier GHF sites unfolded against this backdrop of mass hunger. Aid-seekers described scenes where gunfire repeatedly erupted as crowds surged in desperation. Humanitarian organizations say private armed guards are fundamentally incompatible with international humanitarian standards.
Growing Fears of a Repeat
Human rights groups, legal scholars and aid officials warn that the upcoming expansion of contractor-run aid sites risks replicating — or worsening — the catastrophic patterns of violence seen during GHF’s first deployment.
“The model is structurally unsafe,” one veteran humanitarian official told Drop Site. “You cannot mix hunger, crowds, and private armed contractors and expect anything but tragedy.”
Ug Solutions insists its teams “believe in the humanitarian mission” and many are “eager to return to the Strip.” Critics argue that eagerness is no substitute for oversight — or accountability.
With a new U.S.-backed governance body poised to reshape Gaza’s political and security environment, and with private contractors once again preparing for deployment, Gaza’s most vulnerable residents could soon find themselves at the center of another experiment in privatized humanitarianism — one that, for many Palestinians, has already proven fatal.
