By World Israel News Staff
Indonesia’s military is preparing to deploy thousands of soldiers to the Gaza Strip in the coming weeks, according to a report published by Israel’s public broadcaster Monday night, making Jakarta the first contributor to the nascent International Stabilization Force.
The report by Kan News claimed that Indonesian troops could enter Gaza later this month, following Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto’s visit to Washington DC on February 19.
On Tuesday, Indonesian Army Chief of Staff Maruli Simanjuntak told Bloomberg that while the plans have yet to be finalized, Indonesia is considering deploying up to 8,000 soldiers to the Gaza Strip.
That marks a sharp decline from the “20,000 or more” soldiers President Prabowo offered to send to Gaza during a United Nations General Assembly meeting last September.
While a number of countries have in the past expressed interest in supplying the ISF with troops – including Egypt, Turkey, Pakistan, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, and Azerbaijan – Indonesia is the first to move towards deploying forces to Gaza.
The nature of the ISF’s mission remains unclear, though it is expected that the United Nations-backed peacekeeping force will not attempt to confront Hamas over its ongoing failure to disarm.
However, the ISF has yet to draft a comprehensive set of rules of engagement delineating how member forces will respond if and when they make contact with Hamas, and under what conditions they should use force.
According to the army chief’s statement to Bloomberg, Indonesian forces in Gaza will be primarily focused on engineering and medical operations, with no mention of whether Jakarta’s forces will be responsible for demilitarization efforts in Gaza, including the demolition of terrorist tunnels.
