Despite Hamas’s refusal to disarm, the Gaza Peace Council says it is pressing ahead with implementing President Donald Trump’s “comprehensive peace plan.” A senior council official said Thursday that officers from the international stabilization force have already arrived in Israel, and thousands of troops are expected to follow to serve as a buffer between the Israel Defense Forces and areas that will be transferred to a Palestinian committee in Gaza.
A logistics support center is being set up on the Israeli side of the Kerem Shalom crossing. It will serve as a transit point for the ISF and also support Gaza reconstruction. In the first phase, officers have arrived or will arrive from Kosovo, Morocco, Kazakhstan, and Albania, while the council is in talks with four more countries to contribute forces. Indonesia had also been slated to send troops, but froze its plans after the war and is now reconsidering them.
The official rejected recent claims that the “Peace Council” was stalled by lack of funding and unclear legal standing. “Foreign forces are starting to arrive, for now in limited numbers. Forces from Kosovo have already arrived and more countries will soon follow. It is moving forward. The logistics center in Kerem Shalom is not the final ISF base, but a transit station before entering Gaza,” he said.
He said there is indirect, ongoing contact with Hamas, including mediator meetings in Cairo in recent days, but stressed that implementation is proceeding “step by step” regardless of Hamas’s approval. The force’s activity is coordinated with Israel, and Palestinian technocratic representatives will enter Gaza alongside the troops to ensure no weapons or militants get in. He also said U.S. forces in Israel will remain at the Kerem Shalom center, not in Gaza, and that training for about 20,000 Palestinian police officers, described as non-Hamas, will begin in the coming weeks. He added that Hamas is “weak and isolated,” faces pressure from Qatar and Turkey, and has no Iranian backing for further support.
