Peace Council Requests Italy Provide Security and Police Support for Gaza Strip
Trump's Peace Council has requested that Italy provide police advisors and fire brigades to the Gendarmerie to support a security force in Gaza, amid Italian hesitation.
Translated by Qiyas from الجريدة — Original source
The Peace Council established by U.S. President Donald Trump has formally requested that Italy provide police, fire department, and Carabinieri officers to assist in forming a new security force in the Gaza Strip, according to documents reviewed by Bloomberg News.
The letters, sent last month to the government of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, asked Rome to commit to the initiative, appoint a liaison officer, and nominate a high-ranking Carabinieri officer—a military police force under the supervision of the Ministry of Defense—to serve as deputy director of the Council’s police program.
Although the Carabinieri has been training Palestinian police officers for years and participated in European Union peacekeeping missions in the southern Gaza border city of Rafah, Italy’s role in Trump’s project has remained limited and undecided.
Earlier this year, Meloni refused to sign the Peace Council charter, citing constitutional constraints.
Bloomberg reported in January that the United States had asked Italy to join the Council’s Stabilization Force as a founding member, but Rome limited its offer to providing training for police forces.
Nine months after the Council’s official launch, it has yet to achieve tangible progress on the ground: no stabilization force has been formed, no Palestinian administration has been established within Gaza, and reconstruction efforts have not begun.
Last month, the Council allocated $2.45 billion for the reconstruction of the Strip, a modest portion of the $71 billion the Council says is required over ten years to rebuild the war-devastated territory.
A peace agreement mediated in 2025 between Israel and Hamas, which the United States designates as a terrorist organization, stipulates that the Palestinian movement must disarm, but it has not yet done so.
Sources familiar with the Italian government’s stance said that Rome is considering appointing a high-ranking officer to serve as deputy director of the police program, but security concerns have complicated the decision-making process, and no final decision has been reached.
Some of these sources added that a dispute earlier this year between Trump and Meloni further complicated the situation, temporarily straining relations between Rome and Washington.
A Council official stated that the Council is holding “active discussions” with several governments regarding their potential contributions to the reconstruction of Gaza, where at least 77,000 people have been killed since Israel launched a counteroffensive against Hamas in response to the October 7, 2023, attack that killed at least 1,100 people.
The official added that Italy has “provided very positive contributions over several years in terms of building police force capabilities,” and that they have held “very positive discussions” with Italian authorities regarding the possibility of providing support to the Technocratic National Committee for the Administration of Gaza.
