Board of Peace official: ISF, new Palestinian force to enter Gaza alongside governance committee

Gradually entering the Strip along with the NCAG will be the International Stabilization Force and a new Palestinian police force for Gaza, a Board of Peace official says during a briefing with reporters.

A US official official on the call says the Board of Peace has secured commitments for 5,000 troops from various countries. However, only a handful of representatives from Morocco, Kosovo, Albania, Kazakhstan have actually made it to Israel for eventual deployment.

The Board of Peace official says the four contributing countries will also be talking to other nations about joining the ISF.

The ISF will be tasked with supporting the training of the new Gaza police force, supporting the decommissioning of weapons and positioning itself between Israeli forces and Palestinians, as the IDF gradually withdraws from the Strip, the official explains.

The US official says training for the police force has already begun, though the vast majority of the 5,000 vetted recruits have yet to leave Gaza amid Israeli foot-dragging.

The Board of Peace official indicates that some current Hamas’s policemen will be able to serve on the new Gaza force, while others will be assigned other jobs that are not related to security.

“We don’t want people to lose their livelihood. However, we want to be very clear that as the NCAG comes in… it actually has the freedom to operate and work effectively,” the official says.

The NCAG and the new police force will be responsible for dealing with all internal security incidents, maintaining public order and enforcing the law in the Strip, the official adds.