Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that Israel would determine which foreign forces it would allow as part of a planned international force in Gaza to help secure a fragile ceasefire under US President Donald Trump’s plan.
It is still unclear whether Arab states and other states will be willing to send troops, in part given Hamas’s refusal to disarm as the plan demands, while Israel has expressed concerns about the composition of the force.
While the Trump administration has ruled out sending US troops to the Gaza Strip, it has been talking to Indonesia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Qatar, Turkey and Azerbaijan about contributing to the multinational force.
“We are in control of our security and we have also made it clear with respect to international forces that Israel will determine which forces are unacceptable to us, and that is how we operate and will continue to operate,” Netanyahu said.
“This, of course, is also acceptable to the United States, as its highest representatives have expressed in recent days,” he said at a session of his cabinet.
Israel, which carried out genocide in Gaza for two years, continues to control all access to the territory.
Israel opposes Turkish role in Gaza force
Last week, Netanyahu hinted that he would oppose any role for Turkish security forces in Gaza.
Once warm Turkish-Israeli relations deteriorated sharply during the Israeli attack on Gaza, and Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan lashed out against Israel’s devastating air and ground campaign in the small Palestinian enclave.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, on a visit to Israel aimed at shoring up the truce, said Friday that the international force would have to be made up of “countries that Israel feels comfortable with.” He did not comment on Turkish involvement.
Rubio added that the future governance of Gaza still had to be worked out between Israel and partner countries, but could not include Hamas.
Rubio later said that U.S. officials were being briefed on a possible U.N. resolution or international agreement to authorize the multinational force in Gaza and would discuss the issue in Qatar, a key Gulf mediator in Gaza, on Sunday.
