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Contractors scramble for Gaza rebuilding

 Title: 'They're trying to get rich off it': US contractors vie to rebuild Gaza, with 'Alligator Alcatraz' team in the lead

Author: Aram Roston and Cate Brown

Publication: The Guardian

Date: December 14, 2025

URL: Click here for the article

Summary: Trump administration insiders and Republican-connected businesses compete for Gaza reconstruction contracts worth an estimated $70 billion, with two former Doge officials leading White House taskforce planning. Gothams LLC, contractor for Florida's "Alligator Alcatraz" detention center, emerged as frontrunner before withdrawing Friday citing security concerns after Guardian inquiries.

Quotes:

"Everybody and their brother is trying to get a piece of this. People are treating this like another Iraq or Afghanistan. And they're trying to get, you know, rich off of it." - Long-time contractor familiar with the process

"None of these people are humanitarians or have backgrounds in humanitarian assistance. It's a bunch of crap. There's no surge of medicine, no surge of medical equipment." - Amed Khan, American philanthropist, Amed Khan Foundation

"Your questions have really hit me... Gothams will not be participating. I wish them well." - Matt Michelsen, Gothams founder

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