21 May 2025
The US private military contracting firm set to oversee Gaza aid distribution on Israel’s behalf is actively hiring for positions on LinkedIn, according to job postings shared with Middle East Eye by current and former US officials.
The firm, Safe Reach Solutions, or SRS, says it is actively looking for “Humanitarian Liaison Officers” who will “serve as vital connectors between our operational teams and the broader humanitarian community,” according to one job description.
Another position on offer a week ago but has since closed is for a “Team Deputy/Manager” to support “day-to-day management, planning, and mission execution”.
A liaison officer position appears to be analytically focused. It says that hires will “advise on best practices for engaging with affected populations, local authorities, and community-based organizations” while monitoring developments that could impact “operational posture”.
The team deputy position is geared towards recruits with a background in operations. One of the requirements is “field experience in the Middle East, especially in conflict-affected or post-crisis settings”.
The positions want applicants with at least seven years of experience. They require applicants to be US citizens and say fluency in Arabic is preferred.
Ironically, SRS is seeking people with UN experience, but the plan to take over aid distribution seeks to supplant the United Nations, which is already capable of delivering aid in Gaza.
Who is Phil Reilly and his firm SRS?
MEE couldn’t identify the recruiter, Ali Ali, who has 13 LinkedIn connections and no profile photo. However, SRS is headed by former CIA paramilitary officer Phil Reilly, who has served in Asia, Afghanistan and Iraq.
Two former US officials told MEE that Reilly had won the trust of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and several Israeli businessmen close to him.
His firm has long been the favourite to secure humanitarian aid into Gaza in a project that one Israeli businessman briefed on the plans said could amount to a contract worth “hundreds of millions of dollars”.
SRS was one of the private military contractors responsible for securing Gaza’s Netzarim Corridor during a short-lived truce.
According to a January Reuters report, US contractors were paid $1,100 a day to work in Gaza, with a $10,000 advance for veterans.
SRS’s work during the first ceasefire was paid for mainly by the US and Gulf states, one US official told MEE. The private military contractors’ weapons and supplies are likely to be supplied by the US.
One US official told MEE that the salary range exceeds what the former US security firm Blackwater once paid veterans.
SRS makes no secret of its connection to Gaza on LinkedIn. It posted a glowing article from ABC News in April, titled, “How a team of ‘suburban dads’ secured a key checkpoint in Gaza’s ‘death corridor'”.
Source:MEE
