Vetting of first 5,000 cadets for Gaza police force complete, says official

Nava Freiberg is The Times of Israel's deputy diplomatic correspondent.

The vetting process has been completed for an initial group of some 5,000 Gazans slated to be trained for an emerging Palestinian police force under Washington’s 20-point plan for the Gaza Strip, an official from the US-backed Board of Peace said Tuesday.

“There were over 200,000 applications” to the police force since the Board’s National Committee for the Administration of Gaza (NCAG) opened up registration earlier this year, the official told The Times of Israel.

He added that the NCAG, with the support of the International Stabilization Force (ISF) that is meant to train and deploy with the police force, completed enough vetting “for a first class of 5,000 cadets.”

Staffing the police force has been a top priority for the Board, which is seeking to install new governing and security bodies in Gaza that can gradually reduce the presence of both Hamas and the IDF in the Strip.

The official stressed, however, that there is no timeline for the police force’s deployment and that its activity in the Strip is “conditions-based.”

Many of the Gazans need to complete training outside of the Strip and then be brought back, the official added, saying that the Board of Peace hopes to begin training the vetted group “in the next weeks.”

Asked about the criteria for joining the force, following Times of Israel reporting that Israel was adamantly opposed to any Hamas-affiliated Gazans being included, the official said the vetting was carried out by the NCAG with support from the ISF.

He said the ISF also “took information” from other bodies — indicating that Israeli security forces played a role and likely vetoed any candidates linked to the terror group.

An Arab diplomat told The Times of Israel in March that Palestinians who previously served as Hamas civil servants had been allowed to apply to the new police force, but would have to undergo Shin Bet vetting to be approved.

On Sunday, the Israeli security cabinet voted to approve the limited entry of the ISF under the US Gaza plan, with troops expected to first deploy along the borders of a pilot humanitarian zone in Gaza being planned by the Board in the area of the southern city of Rafah.

“We’re close to finalizing the plans with the NCAG on how they would administer the zone, legally [speaking],” the official added.

Officials have told The Times of Israel in recent weeks that securing funding from the US and internationally has complicated the plan’s advancement.

The official said the Board has secured “firm commitments” on the funding for the pilot zone, and has “clear operational plans for which the money would be connected,” though they do not elaborate on the funding sources.

Before any deployment of the ISF or police force, first steps on advancing the zone would focus on “site preparation” in Rafah, the official says, adding this process hasn’t begun yet on a meaningful scale.

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