Indonesia Among First Five Nations to Send Personnel to Gaza

Jakarta (ANTARA) - Indonesia is one of the first five member nations of the Board of Peace (BoP) to send personnel to the Gaza Strip, the International Stabilisation Force (ISF) for Gaza has announced.

“I am pleased to announce that the first five countries to send personnel to serve in the ISF are Indonesia, Morocco, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, and Albania,” said ISF Commander Major General Jasper Jeffers at the inaugural heads-of-state meeting of the Board of Peace in Washington DC on Thursday morning local time.

As monitored via a White House live broadcast from Jakarta on Thursday evening, Jeffers also revealed that Egypt and Jordan are two Board of Peace member nations willing to provide training for the Gaza police force that is to be established.

In his presentation, the ISF Commander stated that the stabilisation body has two objectives: ensuring the maintenance of security and stability in Gaza, and ensuring the establishment of civilian governance in the Palestinian territory.

Major General Jeffers disclosed that a team of military experts has been working directly from a joint operations centre that will serve as ISF headquarters.

He explained that under the plan, ISF personnel will be divided across five sectors in the Gaza Strip, with each sector receiving one ISF brigade. According to the presentation, the five sectors are Rafah, Khan Younis, Deir al-Balah, Gaza City, and Northern Gaza.

In the near term, ISF personnel will be deployed to the Rafah area in southern Gaza, from where the ISF will gradually extend its operations northward. Police force training will be conducted simultaneously.

Major General Jeffers said that in the long term, the force anticipates deploying 20,000 ISF personnel and 12,000 police officers for the Gaza Strip.

“With these initial steps, we will bring about the security that Gaza needs for a prosperous future and lasting peace,” Jeffers said.

Meanwhile, United States President Donald Trump expressed his appreciation to Indonesia for its decision to contribute military personnel to maintain the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.

“A number of countries have pledged personnel to help maintain the ceasefire and ensure lasting peace… especially to Indonesia, thank you very much Indonesia, a great country, thank you again,” Trump said to Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto.