Egypt training thousands of Palestinians for post war Gaza security force

[Twiglets1]

Egypt has begun training hundreds of Palestinians to join a force of up to 10,000 to provide security for the Gaza Strip, as Arab countries rally around a vision of post war Gaza without Hamas, Arab officials told The Wall Street Journal.

Potential recruits have already started training at Egyptian military academies, the officials said. Most of the Palestinians in the force are expected to come from the Palestinian Authority’s security services, with some from the PA’s Fatah faction—Hamas’ secular nationalist rival—possibly coming from Gaza as well.

Preparations in Egypt for a post war Gaza come as the United States signals that the conflict may soon reach a conclusion. “We believe we can reach a settlement, one way or another, certainly before the end of the year,” U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff said overnight.

The plan to deploy PA forces in Gaza is expected to face opposition in Israel. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other coalition figures have said they will not allow the PA to govern the Strip. This issue lies at the heart of the disagreement between Israel and Arab countries willing to assist in a post war Gaza, as the Arabs insist on a significant role for the PA.

The composition of the international force, which will include Palestinian security personnel, is still under discussion among Arab countries. The United Arab Emirates, for example, wants to see reforms in the PA before supporting its inclusion in Gaza’s postwar governance. In addition to Palestinians, most Arab forces would come from Egypt, with smaller contingents from Jordan and Gulf states, Arab officials told The Wall Street Journal.

The effort to prepare Palestinians to replace Hamas comes as many Arab countries have publicly opposed the group’s continued control of Gaza. Last month, the 22-member Arab League called for Hamas to disarm and end its rule in the Strip for the first time.

www.ynetnews.com/article/bycycq2fxx

My initial thoughts are this is surely a positive step in terms of rebuilding Gaza for Palestinians and working towards a two autonomous state solution. I will be interested to see what Israel make of it if it gains traction as they have suggested they want to be in charge of security (which I believe would be a disaster).

It seems that Netanyahu and his right wing coalition will be against the idea.

Still, if Trump likes the plan and is determined to get a settlement reached by the end of the year, it may be that this is a compromise they will have to accept.

Maybe it’s obvious but I’m not sure what’s worse for Netanyahu - Trump being in a funk or potentially losing the majority in the Knesset. The problem is, the right wing extremists seem to just want to keep Gaza so he’s going to have to disappoint them at some point (I hope!).

Just my guess but I would say losing Trump's support would be the worse thing that could happen to Netanyahu.

No fan of Trump but he seems to be the only person right now that potentially could pull this off.

If he does, I'll support his nobel peace prize! (joking)

The last thing the world needs is Trump getting a Nobel peace prize!

I think either one would be the end of Netanyahu’s time in power. The sooner we get to the point where this is over the better though. The more I read and hear, the more I fear it’ll be years though. Maybe Trump’s name on the Nobel list isn’t so bad!

You can tell we're getting desperate when we're relying on Trump to be the voice of reason.

But still, can't help but hope there is a glimmer of light in Witkoff saying, “We believe we can reach a settlement, one way or another, certainly before the end of the year.”

Indeed! I want to say any US president could’ve done the same and it’s really the US element (not Trump personally) that’s important but maybe only Trump’s … ‘unpredictable nature’ could force it to happen.

I think you’re right to be optimistic though - Trump needs a win and I’m sure he’d see this as a big one. Fingers crossed the riviera plans are off the table though (unless that’s his way of Israel ‘apologising’ to the traumatised Palestinians left in Gaza post-Hamas).

@Twiglets1 Tony Blair has been added to the mix re what the plan is post-war. Not sure how to feel about that as Iraq/Afghanistan post war wasn’t exactly successful.

I also saw this in the article about it which didn’t fill me with hope -

“Blair served as Middle East envoy for a few years after leaving office in 2007 - focusing on bringing economic development to Palestinian areas and creating conditions for a two-state solution.

However, when Israel's Foreign Minister Gideon Saar was asked by reporters what the plan was for a Palestinian state, he said there would not be any.”

I'm not sure what's going on with their "day after" planning.

According to The Independent, White House officials said that Trump, Blair and Kushner were discussing all aspects of the Gaza issue, including escalating food aid deliveries, the hostage crisis, post-war plans and more.

Axios has also reported Witkoff as having met with Blair last month and Blair later meeting with the Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas to discuss what he’d talked about with Witkoff.

So it sounds like maybe the PA could be strongly involved, despite Netanyahu not trusting them.

Scoop: Inside Trump's Gaza meeting with Tony Blair and Jared Kushner

The meeting President Trump convened on Wednesday to discuss a post-war plan for Gaza involved two high-profile invited guests, Jared Kushner and Tony Blair, and an unexpected third one: Israeli official Ron Dermer.

Why it matters: Dermer told the assembled senior officials that Israel doesn't want to occupy Gaza long-term, but needs an acceptable alternative to Hamas to govern the enclave. Kushner and Blair got Trump's blessing to keep developing such a plan, but right now they don't have an answer as to who would take over.

Towards the end of the meeting, Trump wanted to get the Israeli input and asked his team to call in Dermer, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's most powerful adviser.

Dermer was in the White House to present Rubio and Witkoff with Israel's operational plan for occupying Gaza City and for a humanitarian surge during the operation, two sources with direct knowledge said.

• "The president wanted to hear from him what are Israel's needs and red lines in a day-after scenario," one source said.
• According to the source, Dermer made clear that Israel doesn't want to occupy Gaza for good and doesn't want to expel the Palestinian population, despite proposals from some in the government to do both. He stressed that Israel wants to hand over Gaza to someone else who is not Hamas.
• "Dermer's message was: As long as our conditions are met, we will be flexible about everything else," the source said.

The big picture: A "day-after" plan for Gaza will be a key component of any diplomatic initiative to end a war that has killed more than 62,000 Palestinians over two years of fighting.

• But rebuilding an enclave that is utterly destroyed and designing a political and security architecture that all sides can live with will be extremely difficult.

• Wednesday's meeting at the White House didn't end with any clear decisions, but clarified that the key question mark remains who will be able to take over Gaza instead of Hamas, the sources said.

What to watch: A source with knowledge of Kushner's and Blair's work said they're still in the middle of the process and it's unclear how long they'll need to finalize a detailed plan.

• For one thing, they have not yet settled on a proposal for who would govern Gaza or ensure security there.
• But the White House sees the plan as an important tool that needs to be ready when the Israeli operation ends.
• "The goal is for the U.S. to lead the effort to find an internationally accepted governance structure in Gaza that will allow Israel to pull out without deteriorating back to the old reality again from a security standpoint," the source said.

www.axios.com/2025/08/28/trump-gaza-kushner-blair-plan

We still have the place to ourselves!

Thanks for sharing the article - I’m sure the sticking point is security which is understandable. I just don’t think an Israel controlled Gaza is going to help move away from conflict because people will keep pushing back against it. Plus you have Smotrich saying it’s theirs forever so that’s concern.

I wonder whether Trump will end up blurting out some sort of plan and almost force it Netanyahu to either accept it or ruin their relationship.

Well I'm glad you're here @PinkBobby or I would be talking to myself 😉

Looks like a positive step, and presumably is not taking place within a vacuum (i.e. there must be coordination with the US and, probably indirectly, Israel). As you said above, whether it's implemented will depend on how much pressure there is on Netanyahu between Trump on the one hand and Smotritch and Ben Gvir on the other. Here's hoping that the latter two lose the argument.