Israel won’t accept the presence of Turkish armed forces in Gaza under a US plan to end war in the Palestinian territory for good, Israeli foreign minister Gideon Sa’ar said on Monday.
US president Donald Trump’s plan includes an international force in Gaza to help secure a fragile ceasefire that began this month, halting two years of war between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas.
But it remains unclear whether Arab and other states will be ready to commit troops to the international force. “Countries that want or are ready to send armed forces should be at least fair to Israel,” Mr Sa’ar said at a news conference in Budapest.
Once-warm Turkish-Israeli relations soured drastically during the Gaza war, with Turkish president Tayyip Erdogan lambasting Israel’s devastating air and ground campaign in the small Palestinian enclave.
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“Turkey, led by Erdogan, led a hostile approach against Israel,” Sa’ar said, speaking alongside his Hungarian counterpart Peter Szijjarto. “So it is not reasonable for us to let their armed forces enter the Gaza Strip and we will not agree to that and we said it to our American friends,” Sa’ar said.
While the Trump administration has ruled out sending US soldiers into the Gaza Strip, it has been speaking to Indonesia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Qatar, Turkey and Azerbaijan to contribute to the multinational force.
Last week Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu hinted that he would be strongly opposed to any role for Turkish security forces in Gaza. On Sunday, he said Israel would decide which foreign forces to allow in Gaza.
US secretary of state Marco Rubio, on a visit to Israel aimed at shoring up the truce, said on Friday the international force would have to be made up of “countries that Israel’s comfortable with”. He made no comment on Turkish involvement.
Meanwhile, Israel said on Monday that the Red Cross had handed over the body of another deceased hostage from Gaza to the Israeli military, according to a statement by the Israeli prime minister’s office.
If the identity of the deceased hostage is confirmed, it would mean that the remains of 12 hostages remain in Gaza, with Palestinian militant group Hamas citing obstacles to locating them in the rubble left by the fighting. - Reuters
