While Israel prepares for the possibility that Hamas may ultimately return to fighting, the international community is pushing for a peaceful resolution. The Times of Israel reports that Indonesia is preparing to deploy between 5,000 and 8,000 troops to Gaza to serve as peacekeepers under a U.S.-brokered peace plan. The proposal remains in the planning phase, with no final decisions made. The Board of Peace is scheduled to hold its first meeting next week.
Under Trump’s Gaza peace plan, the first stage of which was signed into force in October, the ISF is tasked with providing security in the Strip, while gradually phasing out the Israel Defense Forces, which currently remains in control of 53 percent of the enclave. Hamas, which still controls the rest of Gaza, is to disarm, though the group has so far shown no inclination to do so, which has made it difficult to find countries to volunteer for the ISF, which will be headed by US Central Command Special Operations Commander Maj. Gen. Jasper Jeffers.
(Indonesian Chief of Staff) Maruli said that initial preparations within the Indonesian army were already underway. The personnel are being prepared to function as peacekeeping forces, he added, and deployment would focus on engineering and medical units.
The world’s most populous Muslim nation, Indonesia is among the countries with which the United States has discussed plans for an International Stabilization Force (ISF) in Gaza.
Indonesian officials will attend next week’s Board of Peace meeting regarding phase two in Gaza. Meanwhile, talks concerning Iran are ongoing this week. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is pressing U.S. President Donald Trump regarding the regime’s alleged hidden missile sites in New York, while U.S. representatives are meeting with their Iranian counterparts in Muscat, Oman.
The Fellowship and our supporters pray that these efforts will lead to a new era of shalom—peace—in the Holy Land.