Safe Reach Solutions and several other American private military contractor companies will enforce a ceasefire in part of the war-torn area.
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.
Under the terms of a 42-day cease-fire, 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.
Gaza and Israel
On January 15, 2025, Israel and Hamas agreed to a temporary cease-fire, just as the war, which began in October 2023, was in perhaps its most dangerous phase.
The previous month, Dr. Sayeed Joudeh was caught in the crossfire of a tank battle. That loss may seem inconsequential to most people, but Dr. Joudeh was the last orthopedic surgeon in Gaza. His death is emblematic of the deteriorating situation in Gaza, as medical care moves from difficult to nearly impossible to obtain.
At the same time, food shipments to Gaza dropped off to almost nothing, prompting the United Nations to declare that the situation had become “apocalyptic” for Palestinians. “The entire Palestinian population in North Gaza is at imminent risk of dying from disease, famine and violence,” officials added.
As if all this wasn’t enough, the Israeli Defense Force launched one of its largest operations of the war in May 2024. The offensive targeted Rafah, near the Egyptian border in extreme southern Gaza. Because of intense fighting elsewhere, Rafah’s population has swollen to 1.4 million. Intense fighting continued until the end of 2024.
While all this was going on inside the Gaza Strip, the war was expanding elsewhere, threatening to become a regional conflict. By late 2024, a year of strikes between Israel and Hezbollah led to a brief Israeli invasion of Lebanon, as well as the fall of the Assad regime in Syria and an ongoing Israeli invasion of Syria.
Most sources agree that, since the war’s beginning, over 150,000 people, most of them Palestinians, have been killed or seriously injured.
What Security Contractors Do
Walking into such a complicated situation and maintaining calm is a tall order, to say the least. But American private military contractors are used to working in dangerous situations and taking large risks.
Under U.S. law, private military contractors cannot participate in offensive operations. That’s the primary difference between mercenaries, who can do anything, and contractors, whose duties are limited. Some contractors provide direct combat support. They fight side-by-side with regular servicemembers. Usually, however, contractors are combat support personnel. They handle chores like:
- Guarding: For many servicemembers, guard duty is a form of punishment. But contractors embrace this responsibility, partially because many contractors are former law enforcement personnel who understand the value of a deterring presence. This quality also makes contractors excellent peacekeepers and other responsibilities many servicemembers abhor.
- Training: This responsibility is even more indirect and one that Gaza contractors aren’t involved in. However, in many other places, contractors train government security forces, especially in specialized areas like anti-insurgency warfare. The more well-conditioned government security forces are, the sooner everyone can go home.
- Defensive Reserve: Finally, contractors are an ace in the hole for military planners. The brass can put everything into a certain operation and know that, if necessary, contracts can pick up rifles and defend the camp. Non-security contractors, like cooks and medics, have this ability as well.
Not all contractors go home when the fighting ends. In fact, in many cases, more contractors arrive to assist in rebuilding efforts.
Terrorists, like Hamas fighters, usually focus on hit-and-run raids against soft targets. These assaults have large impacts and cost little. Alternatively, terrorists often sabotage government-sponsored construction projects.
That’s where security contractors come in once again. A handful of security contractors at a construction site transforms a soft target into a hard one. Additionally, by discouraging sabotage, they help ensure that large capital projects keep moving forward so refugees will return.
Injury Compensation Available
Whether they provide backup during military operations, patrol the streets as part of a peacekeeping force, or guard construction sites, private military contractors risk the same injuries, such as:
- Trauma Injuries: Falls are the most common overseas contractor trauma injuries. A fall from as little as four stories above ground is normally fatal. Slip and fall injuries are common as well. Most countries don’t have strict workplace safety laws if they have any workplace safety laws at all.
- Occupational Diseases: Toxic exposure might be the most common occupational disease among overseas contractors. Burn pit smoke affected many Iraq and Afghanistan contractors. Furthermore, most countries don’t have strong clean air or water laws, if they have any such laws at all. Prolonged exposure to environmental or man-made toxins could cause cancer or another serious illness.
As a result, a Defense Base Act lawyer can obtain the same benefits for all private military contractors who sustain deployment-related injuries or illnesses overseas.
- Lost Wage Replacement: Most victims receive two-thirds of their average weekly wage for the duration of their permanent or temporary disabilities, even if they were at fault for the accident. The AWW is based on regular cash compensation as well as irregular and non-cash compensation.
- Medical Bill Payment: Under the law, the DBA insurance company must pay all reasonably necessary medical bills, and victims aren’t financially responsible for any unpaid charges. This benefit applies to every phase of medical treatment, from onsite emergency care to post-injury or illness physical therapy.
Significantly, most Defense Base Act claims are settled out of court. So, victims don’t need to go to trial to obtain these life-changing benefits.
For more information about the DBA procedure, contact Barnett, Lerner, Karsen, Frankel & Castro, P.A.