Ankara may not be part of the multinational force to be deployed in the Gaza Strip, as Israel has expressed its opposition to the presence of Turkish troops in this mission.
Turkey is unlikely to be included in the force of around 5,000 troops expected to be deployed in Gaza to guarantee stability after the war, after Israel made it clear that it does not accept its participation.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated that the composition of the force must be such that it is acceptable to Israel, as it will have the key role in avoiding a security vacuum during the process of rebuilding Gaza.
Turkey had offered to send troops, but Israel has openly signaled its disapproval of the proposal. Relations between the two countries have deteriorated due to opposing positions on Syria, as well as Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's closeness to the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas.
However, Turkey's exclusion is seen as a controversial decision, as Ankara is one of the guarantors of the 20-point ceasefire agreement proposed by former US President Donald Trump, and is considered one of the most powerful militaries in the Muslim world.
According to diplomatic sources, the stabilization force will be led by Egypt. Meanwhile, other participating countries such as Indonesia and the United Arab Emirates have requested that the mission have a UN Security Council mandate, although it will not formally be a UN peacekeeping mission.
The force will work with a US-led Civil-Military Coordination Center (CMCC) located in the southern Israeli town of Kiryat Gat. The center, which includes advisers from Britain, France, Jordan and the Emirates, was inaugurated on Tuesday by US Vice President JD Vance. The CMCC will also play a role in coordinating humanitarian aid to Gaza, although many entry points remain closed.
The force's main task will be to disarm Hamas and secure a Palestinian transitional government, the formation of which is still under discussion. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ruled out the possibility of involving the Palestinian Authority in administering Gaza after the war.
However, on Friday, the main Palestinian factions, including Hamas and Fatah, reached an agreement in Egypt to create an independent committee of technocrats that will take over the interim management of Gaza, in cooperation with Arab countries and international institutions.
In another sign of bilateral tensions, a team of 81 Turkish emergency specialists from the AFAD agency, sent to search for Palestinian and Israeli bodies, were standing near the Egyptian border awaiting authorization from Israel to enter Gaza territory.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday urged the US to exert more pressure on Israel through sanctions and arms sales bans, so that the latter implements the obligations taken under the Trump plan.
US Secretary of State Rubio also declared that the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) will no longer have a role in Gaza, describing it as an "institution infiltrated by Hamas."
This statement contradicts the positions of European countries, the UN and the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which this week assessed that UNRWA remains an indispensable mechanism for the distribution of humanitarian aid in Gaza. The ICJ also stated that Israel has not provided irrefutable evidence that the agency has been irreversibly infiltrated by Hamas.
Meanwhile, Norway, which initiated the UN proceedings for the ICJ’s legal opinion, is preparing a new resolution emphasizing Israel’s obligation not to obstruct the delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza. Under Trump’s ceasefire agreement, Israel had pledged to allow 600 aid trucks per day into the enclave, but is currently allowing only about 89 trucks per day – about 14% of the planned amount.
In a scathing statement, UNRWA accused Israel of "continued annexation of the West Bank" and "flagrant violations of international law."
The head of the UN Humanitarian Agency (OCHA), Tom Fletcher, after a visit to Gaza, described the situation as "similar to the ruins of Hiroshima or Stalingrad", highlighting the scale of the destruction and the urgent need for assistance.
Meanwhile, representatives of Hamas, led by Khalil al-Hayya, and Fatah, led by Hussein al-Sheikh, held talks in Cairo on Friday on the future of Gaza after the war. In a joint statement, they announced that they had received “clear guarantees from the mediators that the war has effectively ended” and that a committee of independent technocrats would temporarily take over the administration of the Palestinian territory./The Guardian/
