In pictures: Gaza bodyguards open for business

Private guards from Gaza’s first private security company Secure Land train in Gaza City. The newly-formed team of bodyguards mandate covers everything from minding VIPs like the Arabs Idol winner Mohammed Assaf, securing hotels and businesses to ensuring the safe delivery of cash in transit.

Secure Land is a family business and Mr Al Arabid’s father, Abdel Kader, serves as its chief executive.

“We thought seriously about this service after we talked to institutions, companies and people, and found they accepted the idea because this sort of service is just not available in Gaza,” Abdel Kader, the chief executive, said.

But getting a permit to operate such a business from the Hamas-run government was not easy, largely because none of the employees belong to any of Gaza’s many armed factions.

A private guard from Gaza’s first private security company stands guard near the car carrying Palestinian singer and Arab Idol winner Mohammed Assaf.

In Gaza, Hamas does not allow private individuals except in special rare cases to carry weapons, unless they are a card-carrying member of one of the factions.

Inside one of Gaza City’s handful of sports centres, dozens of sweaty men — young and not so young — are put through their paces in various martial arts and other exercises to stay in shape for the job.

“I used to serve in the Qatari army and I do Taekwondo so this job is good for me,” said Hassan Al Shourbaji from the northern Gaza town of Jabaliya, who serves as a group leader.

So far, the firm has 40 employees who have trained for two months to prepare for the job.

As well as physical training they have also been instructed in the use of light weapons at a shooting range.

“We focus on individual capacity and give our utmost attention to fitness, and things like the ability to run, to jump, to evacuate VIPs and secure them,” said the trainer Ahmed Yusef. They also instruct the men in decision-making.

For some international groups, the appeal of a private firm is that it allows them to sidestep the politically tricky need to interact directly with the Hamas administration, which has been boycotted by most Western governments since it forcibly took over the Gaza Strip in summer 2007.

As hoards of excited fans scramble to reach Arab Idol winner Mohammed Assaf, they are pushed back by a group of men in shades, the face of Gaza’s first private security firm, but getting a permit to operate such a business from the Hamas-run government was not easy, largely because none of the employees belong to any of Gaza’s many armed factions. Photos by Mahmud Hams / AFP Photo