Can anyone suggest continuous hand held light that operates on portable batteries?

The PAG lights are small and very flexible and come in kits with or without batteries, they also can be camera mounted or hand held with tungsten, HMI and LED options.

Cheaper ones from the USA are also available: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Bescor-MPL-635-Studio-Video-Light-w-PRB12XLRATM-Battery-/330527815251?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4cf4fe3653#ht_2561wt_979

I personally like the PAG range as you can add on as required and use the lights on-camera and as hand held with a pag belt : http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/pag-ic2-lighting-kit-/130487248473?pt=UK_Consumer_Professional_RL&hash=item1e61a56659#ht_500wt_1156

Haitham -- How big of an area are you wanting to light? If you mean a larger light that is powered from 12V DC, then some of the Lowel lights can take DC bulbs, such as the Omni Light that has a rubber grip handle for true handheld use. You could plug it into a battery belt or an NP1 adapter case. There are also all kinds of on-camera lights that will run off batteries and can be adapted to be handheld. I use an Anton-Bauer Ultralite with a MR16 bulb. A lot of people are using low power LED lights these days.

I use the UltaLite on my JVC. I've noticed that the AB Dionic batteries will cut out when using higher wattage lamps but the Hytrons will run up to 65W or 75W OK.