Egypt has begun to train hundreds of Palestinians to form a force of up to 10,000 people to ensure the Security of the Gaza strip, while the Arab countries are rally around a common vision of a Gaza Strip without Hamas, Arab officials said.
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The potential members of this force have already started training at the Egyptian military academies, Arab officials said. Most of them are recruited from the security services of the Palestinian authority in the Westordania. Some of them, from the Fatah faction of the authority, the Palestinian Secular Political Party and the Hamas rival, could come from Gaza.
The plan to install the security forces of the Palestinian authority in Gaza will probably face the opposition of Israel, which has already said that it will not allow the authority to run the post -war gaza. On the other side, the Arab countries are ready to intervene to help take control over the Gaza strip, insisting on a role for the Palestinian authority.
The details regarding the configuration of an international force, which include Palestinian security personnel, are in debate in some Arab countries. For example, the United Arab Emirates want to see reforms before supporting a post -war role. In addition to Palestinians, most Arab forces will come from Egypt, the others from Jordan and the Gulf states, officials said.
The approach to train Palestinians to take over Hamas security in Gaza comes in the context in which many Arab countries have begun to explicitly oppose Hamas involvement. In July, the Arab League, made up of 22 members, asked Hamas for the first time to disarm and end his government in Gaza. Israel has long been asking for Hamas to teach military and government control over the enclave – and release the remaining Israeli hostages – right to put an end to the war.
“Hamas should not be part of the next leadership,” said Mahmoud al-Habbash, advisor to the president of the Palestinian authority, Mahmoud Abbas, who confirmed the plan to train up to 10,000 members of the Security personnel. “Without Pa, it is either Hamas or chaos.” The international community is expected to cover the costs. A contingent of 5,000 members of the security staff will be sent to Egypt for training on the first day of ceasing fire and will take about six months, Habbash said.
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An official Hamas said that the Arab proposal for an international force “is neither viable nor practice”, adding that non-Palestinian forces will never be accepted and will not be success.
Similarly, Egypt and Qatar presented Hamas last week a plan to create an international force formed largely of Arab security personnel. This force would include the security forces of the Palestinian authority that Egypt has begun to train, officials said. Hamas rejected the proposal, which demanded the group to give up all the military and political control over the Gaza strip.
Instead, Hamas said that he will accept a previous proposal of Israel and the US, which includes a 60 -day fire cease that would release 10 hostages in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners. Israel sent a delegation to Cairo to discuss a cessation of fire, but a spokesman of the Qatar said on Tuesday that Israel does not respond to the Hamas proposal and asked the international community to pressure Israel.
“The ball is now in the land of Israel, which seems to be will not be willing to reach an agreement,” he said. The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did not respond to a comment request.
Israel and Arab countries have different visions
Israel opposed to a gase led by the Palestinian authority, the semi -autonomous body that supervises parts of the Westordan. Netanyahu portrayed the authority as a supporter of terrorism, without much differentiated from Hamas. Despite these criticisms of Netanyahu, Israel coordinates security with the Palestinian authority in the Westordan.
The failure to install a new Palestinian leadership in Gaza often meant that Israeli forces withdraw from an area that they captured, for Hamas to regroup later. Israeli security analysts and former officials have always insisted that Palestinian authority is the only solution to counteract Hamas leadership in Gaza.
Amir Avivi, a former Israeli defense official who is close to the current government, said Israel will not accept the forces of Palestinian authority to control Gaza. Netanyahu's office did not respond to a comment request regarding the Egyptian effort.
“The Egyptians want the Palestinian authority to be in Gaza and this is something that Israel will not accept,” said Avivi. He added that daily security in Gaza will probably be provided by locals who are not associated with Hamas or authority and that Israel will retain the general control of enclave security.
Palestinians themselves have little confidence in authority. A survey conducted in May by Khalil Shikaki found that 81% of Palestinians want the resignation of President Mahmoud Abbas. The authority has long been affected by accusations of corruption and is perceived by many Palestinians as a collaborator in the Israeli occupation of the Westordan.
Forces training is “an attempt by the Arab states to rehabilitate the Palestinian authority, which suffers from a crisis of legitimacy,” said Khaled Elgindy, a researcher at the Center for Contemporary Arab Studies of Georgetown.
The Palestinian authority claims that Hamas should turn into a non-military political party and give up control over the Gaza strip. The autonomous government has always insisted that its policies towards its Islamist rival are different from Israel's policies, which wants to completely destroy the militant organization.
Even if Israel would accept the security forces of the Gaza authority, the post -war plan will have to find a way to rehabilitate the former Hamas police in the Security Forces or to risk a division that ensures the security of the enclave, Hussein Ibish, a senior researcher at the Institute of Arab States in Golf, a Bay Tank. The plan will also need the acceptance of the Americans, who will probably be the most able to convince the Israelis to accept it.
“If the Americans do not force the Israelis, what is the point?” Ibish said.
Impasse in peace negotiations
The security forces training plan comes while the cessation negotiations seem to stay in place. The Israeli delegation in Cairo discusses a Hamas proposal for a temporary ceasefire, which is almost identical to an offer made by Israel in July, before the discussions collapsed. Netanyahu said he supports an agreement by which all the hostages would be released and put an end to the Hamas's political and military control over the Gaza strip.
Despite an increasing consensus among key Arab countries, including Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, that Hamas has to give up power in Gaza, the terrorist group has given little signs to give up. Over 62,000 Palestinians were killed, according to the Palestinian health authorities. Parts of the enclave were completely destroyed. And Palestinians continue to face severe hunger and malnutrition.
The militant group was also diminished in Gaza. Most of his high -ranking leadership, including Yahya Sinwar, the architect of the deadly attack against Israel on October 7, 2023, were killed by Israel during the war. They are fighting more and more to pay their fighters and maintain the law and order. However, it is believed that the group has about 20,000 fighters, although many are new uninstalled recruits.
