Times of Israel: UAE Supports "Peace Council" with $100 Million for Training the New Gaza Police

SadaNews - The Times of Israel website reported on Friday that the UAE provided support to the "Peace Council" for training the new police force that will take over security in Gaza.

The site quoted an American official and a diplomat in the region, stating that the UAE transferred $100 million to the "Peace Council" in recent days to fund the training of a new Palestinian police force for Gaza.

This financial transfer is the largest received by the "Peace Council" so far, following the announcement of commitments worth $17 billion at a donors conference hosted by President Donald Trump last February.

The site notes: Despite less than one percent of this figure having been transferred, the "Peace Council" denied the existence of a funding crisis, and a source familiar with the matter said that the international body led by the United States, tasked with overseeing the administration of Gaza post-war, does not seek to collect all pledges immediately; instead, it wants to disburse funds as needed and gather them accordingly.

The new Palestinian police force is viewed as a top priority for the "Peace Council", as it seeks to establish new civil and security entities to govern Gaza with the aim of ousting Hamas and pushing towards an Israeli withdrawal.

The new police force will operate under the umbrella of the National Committee for Gaza Administration, which is a committee of Palestinian technocrats tasked with managing the post-war sector.

The National Committee has not yet entered Gaza, about three months after its establishment, as it seems that the "Peace Council" is determined to first convince Hamas to accept the roadmap for disarmament.

Last February, the National Committee began recruiting members for the new police force, and the "Peace Council" envoy to Gaza, Nikolay Mladenov, stated that several thousand Palestinians had applied quickly.

Palestinians who previously worked as civilian employees for Hamas were allowed to apply to the new police force, but they must undergo a Shin Bet background check for approval, according to an Arab diplomat speaking to the Times of Israel in March.

The recruits are set to be trained in Egypt and Jordan, with a UAE security company tasked with building a force of approximately 27,000 officers, according to the American official and a Middle Eastern diplomat.

The decision by Abu Dhabi to proceed with its commitments and that it remains committed to participating in the post-war administration of Gaza, even as it is almost certain to change its national priorities in light of the recent Iranian war.

The UAE, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait have all pledged at least $1 billion to the "Peace Council".

Aside from Abu Dhabi, only Morocco has committed to its pledges, sending several million dollars to the "Peace Council", according to the American official and the Middle Eastern diplomat.

The UAE was the largest foreign donor of humanitarian aid to Gaza during the war, covering nearly half of the aid that entered the strip.

Another body that the "Peace Council" is working to support is the international stabilizing force, tasked with deploying instead of the Israeli army, which will gradually withdraw from the Gaza Strip.

Indonesia, Albania, Kazakhstan, and Kosovo have pledged to send troops to the mission, but so far, none have been deployed, nor have they received training yet.

However, the United States remains committed to its plan, as Donald Trump recently signed an order supporting the sale of "defense materials and services" made in the USA to the "Peace Council", weapons that would ostensibly go towards arming the stabilizing force.