Israel is reported to have been trying to engage private military contractors in Gaza for at least six months.

Several non-governmental organisations have pulled out or greatly restricted their operations after aid convoys, warehouses and shelters have come under attack.

The UN and other international agencies have also had to curtail humanitarian activity in the enclave because of the ferocity of the fighting there.

Israel has also ruled out accepting help from the Palestinian Authority.

With aid once again all but grinding to a halt in the north of Gaza for two weeks in October, Israel has come under immense international pressure to act.

On Oct 16, the US sent a letter to the Israeli government demanding it improve the humanitarian situation within 30 days or risk violating US laws governing foreign military assistance, suggesting US military aid could be in jeopardy.

Yet, the idea of working with Mr Kahana and mercenaries more generally would entail huge costs and risks of its own.

‘Terrorists will get a bullet’

As Drop Site News, an independent news outlet, reported this week, Mr Kahana’s vision for a humanitarian operation in Gaza is in many respects bizarre, if not fanciful. With the delivery of aid conditioned on the Gazans, it is going to pass biometric tests to determine if they are “terrorists” or not.

“Terrorists will get a bullet,” he vowed on X, formerly Twitter.

In response to questions from Drop Site News about the gated communities he hopes to create, Mr Kahana added that it would be “similar to Miami without [a] golf course and swimming pool”.

“It won’t be [a] ghetto,” he wrote. “They can go in and out anytime but it will have the goal of safe and secure communities with local Palestinian leadership and government.”