• International Stabilisation Force ‘won’t fight Hamas’; Indonesia says it is preparing to deploy 20,000 troops for health, construction-related tasks
• Muslim bloc foreign ministers back UNRWA amid talk of ‘terror designation’

WASHINGTON: International troops could be deployed in the Gaza Strip as early as next month to form a UN-authorised stabilisation force, two US officials told Reuters, but it remains unclear how Hamas will be disarmed.

The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the International Stabilisation Force (ISF) would not fight Hamas. They said lots of countries had expressed interest in contributing and US officials are currently working out the size of the ISF, composition, housing, training and rules of engagement.

An American two-star general is being considered to lead the ISF but no decisions have been made, the officials said.

Deployment of the force is a key part of the next phase of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza peace plan. Under the first phase, a fragile ceasefire in the two-year war began on October 10 and Ham­as has released hostages and Israel has freed detained Palestinians.

“There is a lot of quiet planning that’s going on behind the scenes right now for phase two of the peace deal,” White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt told rep­o­r­ters on Thursday. “We want to ens­ure an enduring and lasting peace.”

Indonesia has said it is prepared to deploy up to 20,000 troops to take on health and construction-related tasks in Gaza.

“It is still in the planning and preparation stages,” said Rico Sirait, spokesperson of Indonesian Defence Ministry. “We are now preparing the organisational structure of the forces to be deployed.”

Demilitarising Gaza

The Security Council authorised the ISF to work alongside newly trained and vetted Palestinian police to stabilise security “by ensuring the process of demilitarising the Gaza Strip, including the destruction and prevention of rebuilding of the military, terror, and offensive infrastructure, as well as the permanent decommissioning of weapons from non-state armed groups.” However, it remains unclear exactly how that would work.

US Ambassador to the UN Mike Waltz noted on Thursday that the ISF was authorised by the Security Council to demilitarise Gaza by all means necessary - which means use of force. “Obviously that’ll be a conversation with each country,” he told Israel’s Channel 12, adding that discussions on rules of engagement were under way.

Hamas has said the issue of disarmament has not been discussed with them formally by the mediators - the US, Egypt and Qatar - and the group’s stance remains that it will not disarm until a Palestinian state is established.

Support for UNRWA

Meanwhile, the foreign ministers of eight Muslim and Arab countries issued a statement of support for the UN agency for Palestinian refugees on Friday.

Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, the UAE, Indonesia, Pakistan, Turkey and Qatar affirmed “the indispensable role of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) in protecting the rights of Palestinian refugees and caring for their affairs”.

The statement follows a report by Reuters that the Trump administration has discussed slapping a terror designation on UNRWA.

Published in Dawn, December 13th, 2025