President Donald Trump’s proposal for a 20,000-member international peacekeeping force in Gaza, intended to stabilize the territory and prevent Hamas from rebuilding its military capabilities, is facing major obstacles.
According to insiders cited by the Wall Street Journal, the planned International Stabilization Force is still struggling to pull together even an initial deployment of roughly 10 to 20 troops.
US military officials and others familiar with the discussions say the effort has been slowed by significant logistical and operational challenges.
Moroccan forces, which had been expected to deploy in June, have reportedly had their timetable delayed by several months.
Even once they are in position, those troops are not expected to move directly into Gaza.
Instead, they are set to train near the border on the Israeli side before taking part in any limited operations inside the heavily damaged Palestinian enclave.
The administration still hopes more countries will eventually contribute personnel, but for now the sweeping stabilization plan has narrowed to a small, delayed contingent preparing outside Gaza.
Still, even that modest movement marks one of the few signs of progress in a peace effort that has largely stalled.
President Donald Trump’s grand vision of a 20,000-strong international peacekeeping force to secure Gaza and permanently block the military resurgence of Hamas has hit a staggering roadblock
Insiders have revealed to the Wall Street Journal that the highly anticipated International Stabilization Force is currently struggling to assemble and deploy an initial group of just 10 to 20 troops
It offers cold comfort to the 2.1 million Gazans still trapped amid the catastrophic ruins of a devastating two-year war.
When his ambitious 20-point peace plan officially started in October, Trump called what he believed to be a new era, the ‘historic dawn of a new Middle East.’
He predicted a massive load of cash for various beach projects. It was a vision deeply intertwined with lucrative real estate dreams floated by his inner circle, most notably his son-in-law Jared Kushner, who famously eyed Gaza’s prime ‘waterfront property’ as a golden opportunity for luxury hotel resorts.
Trump himself has repeatedly doubled down on a grandiose scheme to turn the war-ravaged coastline into a glitzy Mediterranean ‘Riviera.’
Yet, while Trump’s team envisioned bulldozing the ruins to make way for high-end tourist spots, the master plan has so far delivered nothing but a stalled, single-digit security force stuck at the border.
Trump’s grand blueprint – overseen by his own ‘Board of Peace’ – was meant to transition from a temporary truce to total Hamas disarmament and a peacekeeping takeover.
Instead, it has completely unraveled.
Hamas refuses to surrender its weapons, Israeli strikes have killed over 1,000 people post-ceasefire, and billions in promised rebuilding funds have vanished.
With wider regional wars now raging in Iran and Lebanon, spooked nations have frozen their troop commitments, leaving the entire peace deal dead in the water.
Hamas refuses to surrender its weapons, Israeli strikes have killed over 1,000 people post-ceasefire, and billions in promised rebuilding funds have vanished
Hundreds of thousands are left with a grim choice for survival: sheltering inside the hazardous remains of hollowed-out buildings, or packed tightly into sprawling, rat-infested tent cities
On the ground, Gaza is rapidly collapsing into an unlivable wasteland
A shadow government waiting in Cairo claims it is ready to take the reins in Gaza as soon as stability returns, but its blueprint for peace hinges on a gamble.
This administrative body, the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza, is already in the infancy of forming a brand-new police force tasked with stripping Hamas of its arsenal – a plan that relies entirely on the militants voluntarily surrendering their weapons.
That prospect looks increasingly far-fetched following Hamas’s latest political maneuver on Monday.
While the group’s governing body announced it would dissolve and hand administrative control over to the new technocratic council, it refused to disarm its heavily weaponized military wing.
While some experts in the region cautiously interpret the announcement as a sign that Hamas might finally be ready to talk, skeptics have blasted the move as a hollow publicity stunt designed to mask the reality that the militant group still holds dominant power on the ground.
On the ground, Gaza is rapidly collapsing into an unlivable wasteland.
As Israel steadily expands its footprint across the enclave, the population is being compressed into ever-shrinking pockets of territory.
Hundreds of thousands are left with a grim choice for survival: sheltering inside the hazardous remains of hollowed-out buildings, or packed tightly into sprawling, rat-infested tent cities.
‘The ceasefire last October offered a glimpse of hope, but it needs to translate into meaningful improvement in the lives of Palestinians in Gaza,’ Pat Griffiths, a spokesman for the International Committee of the Red Cross in Jerusalem, told the Wall Street Journal.
2 comments
the way i see it, Hamas can disarm itself, or leave that task to the Israelis.
either way, ALL of the suffering of the Palestinian commoners will be the fault of Hamas.
they indoctrinate even their youngest with severely violent hatred towards all Israelis.
the assertive side of Muslim militant and terrorist groups needs to take a backseat to the realization you are warfield scavengers and *reverse-*engineers.
you will never beat the Israeli and US forces.
all you can do is drive them into bloodlust (and thus yourselves into martyrdom) by engaging in wide-ranging terror attacks on western soft targets.
so instead, learn to set aside your warrior-pride, Hamas and alQuada and offshoots thereof.
be smart. be wise. stay alive and able to speak in public.
fight us with patient polite words, like politicians here in the west fight each other between the left and right flanks.
note : it’s the centrists, the moderates, who decide elections, but they do listen carefully to their more assertive members. the centrists filter out the extremist- and conspiracy-theories.
and that’s the only way you can have peace, prosperity, honor and thus a real sense of pride again (‘be builders, not destroyers’).