Indonesia preparing to deploy up to 8,000 soldiers to Gaza

President Prabowo Subianto has argued that Indonesia should help to stabilise Gaza

Indonesia says it is preparing up to 8,000 soldiers for deployment to Gaza, the first country to do so as part of phase two of the ceasefire agreement brokered by the United States late last year.

The army chief of staff, General Maruli Simanjuntak, said training for the soldiers had already begun, and that they would focus on medical and engineering roles in Gaza.

Indonesia has joined President Donald Trump's Board of Peace, which was announced last month.

It has a mandate from the United Nations Security Council to establish an International Stabilization Force (ISF), which will help secure border areas in Gaza and ensure the territory's demilitarisation, including the disarmament of Hamas.

The board, which is due to have its first meeting in Washington on 19 February, will also oversee a new technocratic Palestinian government in Gaza and post-war reconstruction.

The timing of the Indonesian troop deployment and their exact role in Gaza have not yet been finalised, but it appears that President Prabowo Subianto has decided they will go.

His decision to join Trump's Board of Peace has been criticised by some Islamic groups in Indonesia, where there has been widespread public anger over the US role in Israel's bombardment of Gaza.

However, Prabowo has argued that, as the world's largest Muslim nation, Indonesia should help to stabilise Gaza, and has said that its involvement would be in pursuit of an eventual two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Israel's public broadcaster Kan reported that an area in southern Gaza, between Rafah and Khan Younis, had already been designated for use by the Indonesian army to build a barracks for several thousand troops.

Other Muslim countries like Turkey and Pakistan are also considering sending their troops, but have made it clear they would be peacekeepers only, and would not get involved in the planned disarmament of Hamas.

But with Hamas refusing to lay down its arms while Israel continues to occupy parts of Gaza, there is not yet a real peace for the proposed international force to keep.