Egypt is training hundreds of Palestinian police officers with an eye toward integrating them into a post-war security force in Gaza, a Palestinian official said.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty announced the plan to train 5,000 officers for Gaza during talks with Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa in August.

A first group of more than 500 officers were trained in Cairo in March and since September, the two-month courses have resumed to welcome hundreds more people, the Palestinian official said on condition of anonymity.