WASHINGTON, October 23. /TASS/. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that Washington will seek to transfer power in the Gaza Strip to Palestinian civil authorities as progress is made in resolving the conflict in the enclave.

"We would like to see civil authorities, Palestinian civil authorities, in Gaza eventually. That’s what we’re aiming for. We’d like to see Palestinian police forces in Gaza," Rubio told reporters ahead of his trip to Israel, according to a release on the State Department website.

He emphasized that the complete elimination of the influence of the radical Palestinian movement Hamas remains an essential condition for the gradual transfer of power to the Palestinians in Gaza. Rubio also stressed that any Palestinian police force that may be established in the future must be trained and educated by foreign professionals.

"Obviously that’s going to take some time. I mean, you don’t just hire people as police officers. You’ve got to vet them. You’ve got to train them. You have to make sure that the infrastructure is in place. I mean, this thing is only seven, eight days old, so there’s a lot of work to be done. But we’re really committed to making sure we see this through," the secretary of state added.

On October 9, US President Donald Trump announced that Israel and the Palestinian movement Hamas had reached an agreement on the first stage of a peace plan. The initiative involves releasing all hostages held in the Gaza Strip and withdrawing Israeli troops to agreed-upon positions. In the early morning hours of October 10, the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the government had approved a deal to release all hostages. The ceasefire agreement took effect that same day. However, both sides have already accused each other of violating the truce.