U.S. Security Contractors Going to Gaza to Oversee Truce, Officials Say

American security contractors have been enlisted to help handle the return of displaced Palestinians to the Gaza Strip’s devastated north, the next step in the cease-fire deal between Israel and Hamas, according to four officials familiar with the matter.

The contractors are poised to help secure a key zone that splits Gaza in two and is known as the Netzarim corridor, said the officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly. The contractors are intended to screen vehicles ferrying Palestinians from the enclave’s south for weapons, the officials said.

In the early days of the war, the Israeli military ordered a mass evacuation of northern Gaza, forcing hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to flee south. For months, Israeli soldiers have patrolled the Netzarim corridor in part to prevent Palestinians from heading back north.

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

Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, has said for months that Israel will not allow armed fighters to return to northern Gaza. Mediators sought to craft a compromise between Israel’s security demands and Hamas’s conditions for an Israeli withdrawal.

Gazans traveling on foot will be allowed to go back without inspection, according to a copy of one of the cease-fire’s annexes shared with The New York Times. Under the deal, the private contractors are set to begin checking Gazan vehicles heading north as soon as Saturday.