Indonesia is preparing 1,000 troops to deploy to Gaza as part of a potential peacekeeping force by April, a spokesman for the country’s military told Reuters.
Indonesia has said it could potentially deploy a total of 8,000 troops to the besieged Palestinian territory, and the spokesman said the full force will be ready by June.
“The departure schedule remains entirely subject to the political decisions of the state and applicable international mechanisms,” spokesman Donny Pramono told the outlet.
Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto will travel to Washington this week to attend the first meeting of President Trump’s so-called “Board of Peace,” a US-led body meant to oversee the Gaza ceasefire, which Israel has constantly violated by killing more than 600 Palestinians in the Strip since the deal was signed.
Under Trump’s plan for Gaza, an “International Stabilization Force” is supposed to deploy to replace Israeli troops, who currently occupy more than 50% of the Strip. The US was initially planning for the ISF to deploy to Gaza much earlier, but the force didn’t materialize over concerns from countries initially willing to participate that their troops might end up fighting Hamas on behalf of Israel.
According to Middle East Eye, the Indonesian Foreign Ministry said in a statement over the weekend that its troops deploying to Gaza will have a non-combat role and will not have a mandate to disarm any group. “Indonesian troops will not be involved in combat operations or any action leading to direct confrontation with any armed group,” the ministry said.
However, under the UN Security Council that endorsed Trump’s peace plan, which essentially places Gaza under US control, the ISF is mandated to ensure “the process of demilitarising the Gaza Strip” and “the permanent decommissioning of weapons from non-state armed groups.”
The Indonesian Foreign Ministry also said that its involvement in Gaza doesn’t mean it’s normalizing relations with Israel and condemned the idea of the forced displacement of Palestinians. “Indonesia consistently rejects all attempts at demographic change or the forced displacement or relocation of the Palestinian people in any form,” it said.
The Indonesian government has faced pushback from its own people, with protesters in Jakarta accusing Subianto of “serving Israel’s goals” by joining the Board of Peace amid constant Israeli ceasefire violations.
