US and Egyptian security companies to oversee screening of Palestinians returning to northern Gaza

Three companies will operate checkpoint on Netzarim Corridor that cuts Gaza in half

A man warms himself in front of a fire in Jabalia in northern Gaza. AFP

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Two private US security firms will screen displaced Palestinians and their vehicles when they return home to northern Gaza from the south under the January 15 ceasefire agreement, sources briefed on the operation told The National on Thursday. They will be joined by a private security company from Egypt.

The sources identified the two US companies as Safe Reach Solutions, a strategic planning and logistics company, and UG Solutions, which operates armed guards around the world. The owners of the company from Egypt are linked to that nation's intelligence agency, said the sources, without elaborating.

Personnel from the Egyptian company and UG Solutions will be deployed at a major checkpoint to be set up at the Netzarim corridor created by Israel during the war which runs from east to west, cutting the coastal enclave in half. The three companies' contracts run for the duration of the six-week truce brokered by Egypt, Qatar and the US, said the sources.

Palestinian children walk in a flooded area at a camp for displaced people in Al Zuwayda in central Gaza. AFP

The chief task given to the companies is to ensure the orderly movement of displaced Palestinians using vehicles to return home in northern Gaza, according to the sources. They will also make sure that no weapons or explosives are smuggled to the north.

Contracting the three companies is designed to circumvent Hamas's opposition to Israel doing the security screening for the returnees as it had demanded during the negotiations that produced the ceasefire and hostages release deal, said the sources. Other companies might if needed join the three already contracted, they added.

The return home of Palestinians displaced from northern Gaza is expected to start on Saturday, said the sources. They are required to take the Salah Al Din road to the Netzarim checkpoint, they added.

The search there will cover all vehicles as well as rickshaws and donkey or horse-drawn carts. Only traffic heading north from the south will be permitted, not the other way around, said the sources.

Palestinians riding in a horse-drawn cart past destroyed buildings in Gaza. AFP

Four female Israeli soldiers held hostage by Hamas since October 2023 are scheduled to be released on Saturday. In return, Israel will free more than 200 Palestinian prisoners serving life or long-term jail terms in Israel.

Most of the freed Palestinians will not be allowed to return to their homes in the West Bank or Gaza under the terms of the deal. Instead, they will move into exile abroad with their families for three to five years, said the sources. Those who are to live in exile will transit in Egypt en route to Turkey or Algeria, said the sources.

Besides the truce and the release of 33 hostages in the first phase of the January 15 deal, it provides for large amounts of humanitarian assistance – 600 lorries a day – to be sent to Gaza, including fuel. It also provides for the supply of 60,000 caravans and 200,000 tents to house those who have lost their homes in the war.

The Gaza ceasefire, which took effect on Sunday, followed 15 months of relentless Israeli bombardment that killed more than 47,000 Palestinians and injured more than twice that number, according to the Gaza government. Most of Gaza's 2.3 million residents have been displaced and about 80 per cent of built-up areas razed to the ground.

The ceasefire is the first respite from fighting that Gaza has had since a week-long truce expired on December 1, 2023. It came after more than a year of on-off negotiations.

The war was sparked by an attack on southern Israel by Hamas and its allies whose fighters killed 1,200 and took another 250 hostage. Of the more than 90 hostages still held in captivity in Gaza, three were freed earlier this week as part of the deal, in exchange for 90 Palestinians who had been held in Israeli prisons.