Hamas said to seek role in Gaza for its police officers, whom Israel views as terrorists

CAIRO, Egypt — Hamas is seeking to incorporate its 10,000 police officers into a new US-backed technocratic Palestinian administration for Gaza, sources say, a demand likely to be opposed by Israel.

Israel regards all elements of Hamas, including its police, as components of the terrorist organization. The police officers’ potential integration into Gaza’s new government comes as the terror group faces pressure to surrender its arms, a demand it has previously rejected.

Hamas retains control of just under half of Gaza following an October ceasefire deal brokered by US President Donald Trump. The agreement, laid out in Trump’s 20-point plan to end the war, ties further Israeli troop withdrawals to the disarmament of Hamas and the demilitarization of Gaza.

The ceasefire, now in its second phase, calls for the day-to-day governance of Gaza to be handed to the newly formed National Committee for the Administration of Gaza, a Palestinian technocratic body with US oversight that is meant to exclude Hamas. Several other bodies will oversee Gaza under the umbrella of the Board of Peace, a group of world leaders inaugurated by Trump last week.

In a letter to staff on Sunday, seen by Reuters, Gaza’s Hamas-run government urged its more than 40,000 civil servants and security personnel to cooperate with the NCAG. It assured them it was working to incorporate them into the new government.

That would include the roughly 10,000-strong Hamas-run police force, four sources familiar with the matter said, a demand that has not been previously reported. Many of them have been patrolling the western half of Gaza as Hamas reasserts its grip in areas under its control.

It was not immediately clear whether Israel, which has adamantly rejected any Hamas involvement in Gaza’s future, would agree to the civil and security workers’ inclusion in the NCAG.

Israel draws no distinction between the military wing of Hamas and the terror group’s police and internal security forces. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office did not respond to a request for comment.

According to the IDF, members of Hamas’s police and internal security forces participated in the terror group’s October 7, 2023, terror onslaught, in which 1,200 people were massacred in southern Israel and 251 abducted. During the war, Israel has repeatedly targeted and killed top commanders and other members of Hamas’s internal security forces, as well as members of its political wing.

Major sticking points remain

Hamas’s plans for its police force and workers point to wide gaps between Hamas and Israel as Trump pushes ahead with his plans.

Last week, Trump hosted a signing ceremony to establish the Board of Peace that will serve as a transitional administration to set a governance framework and coordinate funding for the redevelopment of Gaza. The framework includes a provision barring “foreign terrorist organizations” from participating in governance.

Hamas spokesperson Hazem Qassem told Reuters the terror group was prepared to hand over governance to the 15-member NCAG and its chair, Ali Shaath, with immediate effect.

“We (have) full confidence that it will operate on the basis of benefiting from qualified personnel and not wasting the rights of anyone who worked during the previous period,” Qassem said, referring to the inclusion of the 40,000 personnel.

The four sources said Hamas is open to the NCAG restructuring ministries and sending some workers into retirement. Mass dismissals risked chaos, the sources said.

Hamas and NCAG chair Shaath have not yet met in person to discuss governance, a Hamas official said. Shaath’s office did not respond to a request for comment.

Another issue was whether Sami Nasman, the former Palestinian Authority general assigned to oversee security under the NCAG, would be able to operate in the enclave effectively, a Palestinian official said.

Nasman, originally from Gaza, moved to the West Bank after Hamas violently routed Palestinian Authority forces from the enclave and seized control in 2007 following a brief civil war. A Hamas court in Gaza later sentenced him in absentia, accusing him of instigating chaos. Nasman denies the charge.

Possibility of neutralizing arms

The question of whether Hamas’s police force will be allowed to continue operating in Gaza is arising as Trump and Netanyahu have again called for the group to relinquish its arms as part of the ceasefire’s second phase.

Trump said Monday that Hamas helped Israel locate the body of the final Israeli hostage in Gaza, Master Sgt. Ran Gvili, while reiterating his demand for the terror group to disarm.

“They worked very hard to get the body back,” Trump said of Hamas in an interview with the Axios news site. “They were working with Israel on it. Now we have to disarm Hamas like they promised.”

In remarks to the Knesset on Monday, Netanyahu said that the next phase of the Gaza deal “is not reconstruction.”

Rather, he said, “the next phase is demilitarization of the Strip and disarming Hamas.”

Trump’s administration wants to see heavy weapons decommissioned immediately, with “personal arms registered and decommissioned by sector as (the) NCAG police become capable of guaranteeing personal security,” according to a document shared by the White House last week.

A US official said on Tuesday that Hamas fighters who agree would be granted some sort of amnesty.

The terror group is still believed to possess rockets, which several diplomats estimated to number in the hundreds. It is also estimated to possess thousands of light weapons, including rifles.

Hamas recently agreed to discuss disarmament with other Palestinian factions and with mediators, sources said. However, two Hamas officials told Reuters that neither Washington nor the mediators had presented the terror group with any detailed or concrete disarmament proposal.

A Palestinian official close to the disarmament talks said the US had approached Hamas to explore potential disarmament mechanisms involving parties including Israel as well as Qatar, Egypt, and Turkey, the three regional countries mediating the ceasefire.

“Hamas has spoken about the possibility of neutralizing arms, which could be achieved if there is a truce, and it is ready for a long-term ceasefire — five years or a little longer,” the official said.

“But Hamas strongly believes that a serious political negotiation process must begin on Palestinian statehood, whereby weapons and fighters would come under the authority of the State of Palestine,” the official said.

Israel’s government rejects the establishment of a Palestinian state.

Hamas is not the only terror group in the enclave to possess arms. A source in a Gaza faction allied with Hamas said other terror groups were discussing disarmament but worried about being left defenseless.