According to two Israeli officials and a source with direct knowledge, private US security companies are set to begin operating a crucial checkpoint in the Gaza Strip and deploying armed guards in the enclave within the coming days. Axios reported this on Thursday.
It will be the first time in decades that private US security companies will be active in Gaza.
The US firms will be operating in the Gaza Strip as part of a multinational consortium, established under the ceasefire and arms halt agreement for the Gaza Strip, with the support of its mediators – the US, Egypt and Qatar. The task of the US firms will be to control Palestinian vehicles traveling from the southern Gaza Strip to the northern Gaza Strip and to ensure that no rockets or other heavy weapons are being transported.
Israel demanded that all Palestinians who wanted to head north would have to undergo security checks at the Netzarim Corridor – a major road south of Gaza City – but the Hamas refused. The compromise was that vehicles would only be allowed to drive to the northern Gaza Strip through a single road and would have to be checked at a checkpoint operated by a third party at the Netzarim Corridor.
According to Axios, three security firms are involved in the controls, two from the US and one from Egypt. People walking to the north are not expected to be checked, the New York Times reported. The agreement, which came into effect on Sunday, stipulates that the return of those displaced to the south will be possible as of the seventh day after the ceasefire takes effect.
It is expected that the American contractors will be active in the Gaza Strip until the end of the first phase of the ceasefire agreement – either as a result of an agreement on the second phase of the agreement, which envisions a complete Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, or as a result of the failure of the negotiations and the resumption of fighting.