EU official says it could train 3,000 non-Hamas Gaza police officers for post-war role

The European Union wants to train up to 3,000 Palestinian police officers in the Gaza Strip under a program similar to one it already runs in the West Bank, an EU official said Wednesday.

There will be a “need to stabilize Gaza with an important police force” if the current ceasefire endures, said the official, who was granted anonymity to discuss the sensitive matter.

The UN Security Council voted Monday in favor of a US-drafted resolution bolstering US President Donald Trump’s plan for the Gaza Strip — which has allowed a fragile ceasefire to hold between Israel and Hamas since October 10.

The peace plan notably authorizes the creation of an international force that would work with Israel and Egypt and newly trained Palestinian police to help secure border areas and demilitarize Gaza.

The EU has struggled to exert influence during the two-year war against Hamas in Gaza due to splits within the bloc between countries supporting Israel and those closer to the Palestinians.

Keen to reclaim a role in the region, the EU will propose training Palestinian police officers — who are not affiliated with Gaza’s Hamas rulers — as part of efforts to restore long-term security in the territory.

Around 7,000 police in Gaza are still on the payroll of the Palestinian Authority (PA), which governs the West Bank, the official said. Many have retired or are unable to work, but about 3,000 could be trained, he added.

The training would take place outside of the Gaza Strip, he said.

Israel has long sought to weaken the Palestinian Authority and rejects any role for it in governing postwar Gaza.

The Gaza truce has come under strain, with Israel pledging to resume fighting if steps aren’t taken to disarm Hamas, which remains in de facto control of nearly half of the Strip following an Israeli withdrawal when the ceasefire came into effect. The terror group, which triggered the Gaza war with its October 7, 2023, invasion of southern Israel, has repeatedly and publicly insisted that it will not give up its weapons.

Hamas seized control of Gaza from the West Bank-based PA in a bloody 2005 and the two sides have remained at odds ever since.

The EU has financed a police training mission in the West Bank since 2006, with a budget of around 13 million euros ($15 million).

EU foreign ministers are due to discuss the training proposal during talks on Thursday in Brussels. The bloc will also host a Palestinian donor conference the same day, bringing together around 60 delegations, including Arab states — but not Israel.

The conference will notably allow participants to “take stock” of progress on reforms by the Palestinian Authority, the official said.

The EU is the PA’s main financial backer but has made future aid conditional on reforms, which it considers essential for the PA to play its part in a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which Europe has long advocated.