Gaza internal checkpoint to be staffed by US private armed contractors

The Guardian

30-01-2025

A US security firm is hiring nearly 100 US special forces veterans to help run a checkpoint in Gaza during the Israel-Hamas truce, introducing armed American contractors into the heart of one of the world's most violent conflict zones.
UG Solutions, a low-profile company founded in 2023 and based in Davidson, North Carolina, is offering a daily rate starting at $1,100 with a $10,000 advance to veterans it hires, according to a recruitment email.
They will staff the checkpoint at a key intersection in Gaza's interior, said the spokesperson, who confirmed the authenticity of the email.
Some people have been recruited and are already at the checkpoint, said the spokesperson, speaking on condition of anonymity. He did not say how many contractors were already in Gaza.
UG Solutions' role in the ceasefire deal has been reported, but the email disclosed previously unknown details including the aim of recruiting 96 veterans exclusively with US special operations forces backgrounds, the pay and the types of weapons they will carry. Emirati officials had suggested the use of private contractors as part of a post-war peacekeeping force in Gaza, and that the idea had caused concern among Western nations.
The deployment of armed US contractors in Gaza, where Hamas remains a potent force after 14 months of war, is unprecedented and poses the risk that Americans could be drawn into fighting as Donald Trump's administration seeks to keep the Hamas-Israel conflict from reigniting.
Among the risks facing the Americans are gunfights with Islamist militants or Palestinians angry over Washington's support for Israel's Gaza offensive.
'Of course there is a threat they will face,' said Avi Melamed, a former Israeli intelligence official.
The document said the contractors will be armed with M4 rifles, which are used by the Israeli and US militaries, and Glock pistols.
The rules of engagement governing when UG Solutions personnel can open fire have been finalized, the spokesperson said, but he declined to disclose them.
'We have the right to defend ourselves,' he said. He declined to discuss how the company won the contract.
The Israeli deputy foreign minister, Sharren Haskel, on Tuesday told reporters, without naming UG Solutions or the United States, that Israel had demanded that the deal include the use of a private security firm, working with 'an Egyptian security company or forces' to help maintain security and humanitarian aid flows in Gaza.
But, she said, it remained to be seen if the arrangement 'actually works'. Earlier rounds of ceasefire negotiations were held up by an Israeli demand to staff the checkpoint with its own troops.
A Palestinian official close to the talks confirmed US contractors would also be at the checkpoint, at the intersection of the Netzarim Corridor dividing northern and southern Gaza and Salah al-Din Street, which separates the east and west of the enclave.
The official said the US contractors would be deployed away from residents passing through and they must not deal with the local population.
The UG Solutions email said its primary mission was 'internal vehicle checkpoint management and vehicle inspection'.
'We're only focused on vehicles,' said the spokesperson.
The Israeli prime minister's office declined to provide any further comment on the security arrangements. The US state department, Egypt's foreign office and Hamas did not immediately respond to requests for comment. US use of private security firms has in the past led to disaster.
In 2007, contractors for the now defunct Blackwater firm shot dead 14 civilians in Baghdad's Al Nisour Square, igniting a diplomatic crisis and outraging Iraqis. Four Blackwater personnel were convicted in a US court and pardoned by Trump in his first term. Insurgents in Fallujah, Iraq, in 2004 killed four Americans working for Blackwater and hung two of their bodies from a bridge, prompting a massive US military response.
A separate source familiar with the deal said Israel and unnamed 'Arab countries' that worked on the agreement are funding the consortium. The US government had no direct involvement in the decision to include a security company in the ceasefire deal or in the awarding of the contract, the source said.