WASHINGTON (Reuters) — A small US security firm is hiring nearly 100 US special forces veterans to help run a checkpoint in Gaza during the Israel-Hamas ceasefire, according to a company spokesperson and a recruitment email seen by Reuters, 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, the email said.

They will staff the checkpoint at a key intersection in Gaza’s interior, said the spokesperson, who confirmed the authenticity of the email.

Speaking on the condition of anonymity, the spokesperson said some people had been recruited and were already 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 spokesperson 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.

Reuters reported on January 7 that 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 sparked by its October 7, 2023, invasion and massacre in southern Israel, is unprecedented and poses the risk that Americans could be drawn into fighting as President Donald Trump’s administration seeks to keep the Hamas-Israel conflict from reigniting.

Among the risks facing the Americans are gunfights with Islamist terrorists 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.

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.”

During earlier rounds of failed ceasefire negotiations, Israel had demanded to staff the checkpoint with its own troops.

Witnesses in Gaza have in recent days described Egyptian security personnel at the checkpoint using scanners to look for weapons concealed in vehicles.

An Egyptian source said the Egyptians at the checkpoint were special forces trained in recent months including on counter-terrorism.

A Palestinian official close to the talks confirmed US contractors would also be at the checkpoint.

However, 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 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.

The UG Solutions’ hires will work with US-based Safe Reach Solutions, which does logistics and planning, according to the spokesperson and another source familiar with the contract.

Each hire will be provided with $500,000 in accidental death and dismemberment insurance, and the daily rate for former US special forces medics rises to $1,250, the email said.

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.

Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib, a fellow at the Atlantic Council think tank who grew up in Gaza, downplayed the danger for the Americans because their role in the return of displaced Palestinian civilians bolsters Hamas’ claim of victory over Israel.

“Even Hamas, for all its horrendous rhetoric and actions, understands that it is this very American presence … that feeds its victory narrative,” he said.

Gaza has been devastated by the past 15 months of war between Israel and the Hamas terror group, which began the conflict with its October 2023 attack on Israel, in which some 1,200 people were killed and 251 were seized as hostages.

The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry said that more than 46,000 people in the Strip were killed or are presumed dead in the fighting, although the toll cannot be verified and does not differentiate between fighters and civilians.

Israel says it has killed some 20,000 combatants in battle as of January and another 1,000 terrorists inside Israel on October 7. It has said it seeks to minimize civilian fatalities and stresses that Hamas uses Gaza’s civilians as human shields, fighting from civilian areas including homes, hospitals, schools, and mosques.

On January 19, the first 42-day phase of a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas came into effect, mediated by Egypt, Qatar and the US. Since then, tens of thousands of displaced civilians have streamed on foot and in vehicles through the checkpoint north toward Gaza City, much of it churned to rubble.

Several people in the private security industry told Reuters that they had not heard of UG Solutions.

The only company official listed in Virginia state incorporation records is Jameson Govani, who didn’t respond to phone messages. He is described as a US Special Forces veteran.

A US private security business source briefed on the UG Solutions contract, speaking on condition of anonymity, said it seemed hazardous to deploy Americans in Gaza and that he feared combat could break out “really fast.”

It was unclear what would happen if the Americans were attacked or captured, or which nation’s law would govern the contractor’s actions.

The email does not say who would rescue them. The UG spokesperson said the document was outdated and that quick reaction forces would be available. He didn’t provide further details.

“We are well equipped to guard our own safety,” he said.

Times of Israel Staff contributed to this report.