Officials say US security contractors go to Gaza to oversee the truce

American security contractors have been enlisted to help handle the return of displaced Palestinians to the devastated northern Gaza Strip, the next step in a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas, according to four officials familiar with the matter.

Contractors are prepared to help secure a key area that divides Gaza in two and is known as the Netzarim Corridor, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak. in public. Officials said the contractors aim to check vehicles transporting Palestinians from the southern enclave for weapons.

In the early days of the war, the Israeli army ordered the mass evacuation of northern Gaza, forcing hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to flee south. For months, Israeli soldiers patrolled the Netzarim Corridor in part to prevent Palestinians from returning to the north.

But under the terms of a 42-day ceasefire now in its fifth day, Israeli forces are set to partially withdraw over the weekend and allow the Gazans to head north. The truce, which took effect on Sunday, was brokered by Qatar, Egypt and the United States.

Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli Prime Minister, has said for months that Israel will not allow armed fighters to return to northern Gaza. The mediators sought to forge a compromise between Israel’s security demands and Hamas’ conditions for Israeli withdrawal.

Gazans Travel Serving will be allowed to return without inspection, according to a copy of a ceasefire annotation with the New York Times. Under the deal, private contractors are scheduled to begin checking northbound Ghazan vehicles as soon as Saturday.

But it was not clear when the mechanism would be put into effect, and two officials said it could take two weeks.

One company dedicated to the corridor is Secure Access Solutions, which conducts logistics and planning, according to a company spokesperson, who requested anonymity to discuss sensitive operations.

While Safe Reach Solutions will oversee the operational management of the crossings, another person familiar with its operations said. It is not yet clear who will fund the deployment of contractors.

The company’s website, which appears to have been registered in 2024 and created in 2025, contains almost no specific information about the organization’s activities, financing or employees. The company appears to have social media accounts on Instagram and Threads, but both are empty of content.

US officials have not visited the Gaza Strip for years, due to security concerns and the official policy of no contact with Hamas, the enclave’s de facto rulers.

Many of the more than a million people displaced in Gaza have thrived in an Israeli-designed “humanitarian zone” along the southern coast of Malassi. Most lived in drab tent camps where finding enough food, clean water and protection from the elements was a daily struggle.

For months, they have been hoping to return to their homes in the north – although it is telling how many of those homes remain standing in the wake of Israel’s relentless campaign against Hamas.

“At least, I will put a tent in the rubble,” said Bilal Kuhel, a Gaza City resident who said his home was destroyed in the first days of the war.

Two of the officials said Israel hopes private security contractors will eventually form the nucleus of a larger international force, backed by Gulf states such as Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, that will administer Gaza in the future. They added that the UAE and Saudis are not currently involved.

But in the wake of the ceasefire, Hamas, which on October 7, 2023, led the attack on Israel that led to the war, has reasserted itself, sending its fighters to parade through the streets of Gaza in a show of force. The images have dampened Israel’s hopes of ousting the militant group, despite 15 months of war in Gaza that has killed more than 45,000 people, according to health officials in Ghazan.

aric toler and Riley Mellen Contributed reporting.