Morocco and Albania will join the International Stabilization Force (ISF) in Gaza, which will handle aspects of peacekeeping in Gaza during the Trump administration’s Phase II of the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, The Jerusalem Post has learned.
In addition, KAN News reported on Monday night that Greece will also join the ISF.
The leaks and public announcements have been timed to coincide with Sunday’s announcement that Indonesia will be the first country to join the ISF mission, and ahead of the Board of Peace summit, which is set to take place in the United States on Thursday.
On Sunday, the Associated Press additionally reported that Indonesia’s contribution to the ISF will begin in April, with a primary deployment of Indonesian forces targeted for June.
The same report set the number of Indonesian soldiers to be deployed in April at 1,000 and the full June force at around 8,000, which is higher than some earlier figures the media had speculated about.
There is still no specific information on the timing of deployments for the three additional countries, but by mid-January, reports indicated that Morocco would join Indonesia as the two largest peacekeeping forces.
Morocco has maintained special defense relations with Israel since signing the Abraham Accords in 2020.
According to the AP report, aspects of Indonesia’s process for selecting and clearing soldiers to join the force are underway.
However, Indonesia also said that if conditions in Gaza were not suitable for deployment when it comes to any possible conflict with Hamas, the force might postpone travel to Gaza.
In previous months, Indonesia was mentioned as a possible contributing country to the ISF, along with the United Arab Emirates, Morocco, Egypt, Italy, Azerbaijan, Pakistan, Qatar, Turkey, and others, but to date, no country has progressed past general promises to concrete readiness to send troops.
Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto will be visiting Washington for Trump’s Board of Peace summit on February 19.
Neither the ISF in general, nor Indonesia in particular, is expected to seek direct confrontation with Hamas or to proactively disarm them.
Rather, they are expected to supervise current ceasefire lines and possibly handle other border-related issues.