The vetting process has been completed for an initial group of some 5,000 Gazans slated to be trained for an emerging Palestinian police force under Washington’s 20-point plan for the Gaza Strip, an official from the US-backed Board of Peace said Tuesday.

“There were over 200,000 applications” to the police force since the Board’s National Committee for the Administration of Gaza (NCAG) opened up registration earlier this year, the official told The Times of Israel.

He added that the NCAG, with the support of the International Stabilization Force (ISF) that is meant to train and deploy with the police force, completed enough vetting “for a first class of 5,000 cadets.”

Staffing the police force has been a top priority for the Board, which is seeking to install new governing and security bodies in Gaza that can gradually reduce the presence of both Hamas and the IDF in the Strip.

The official stressed, however, that there is no timeline for the police force’s deployment and that its activity in the Strip is “conditions-based.”

Many of the Gazans need to complete training outside of the Strip and then be brought back, the official added, saying that the Board of Peace hopes to begin training the vetted group “in the next weeks.”

Asked about the criteria for joining the force, following Times of........

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